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WOUTHINGTOFS HORSE DOCTOR, 



OR 



HORSEMAN'S COMPANION, 



CONTAINING THE CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, AND MOST APPROVED 

REMEDIES FOR THE VARIOUS DISEASES TO WHICH THE 

HORSE IS LIABLE IN THE NORTH, EAST, 

SOUTH AND WEST. (-*. 

i § 

A GUIDE TO SHOEING, X ^ 

AND 

DIRECTIONS FOR KEEPING THE FOOT SOUND. 

BEING THE RESULT OP CLOSE STUDY AND LONG PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE, 

By fit H. WORTHINGTON. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED THB MOST APPROVED METHOD OF 

MANAGING VICIOUS HORSES. 



MANY OF THE EECIPES IN THIS WORK ARE VERY VALUABLE. 



CINCINNATI: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

1858. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, 

By WM. H. WORTHINGTON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of Ohio. 

Stereotyped at the Franklin Type Foundry, Cincinnati, O. 







PREFACE. 



Having had this work in view for many years, I 
have carefully noted and preserved the new principles 
that have been discovered in Veterinary Science. 

There are diseases peculiar to the different climates or 
sections of the country; and, for several years I have 
traveled in the West and other parts, (sparing neither 
trouble or expense,) to inform myself upon the various 
diseases to which this noble animal is liable. 

I have taken care to make the arrangement easy for 
convenient reference, and the whole work as small as 
possible, (to do justice to each subject,) excluding 
scientific phrases, and such unnecessary matter as would 
only serve to puzzle the reader — making it just such a 
work as is suited to the wants of the people. 

W. H. W. 



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INDEX 



PAGE. 

Age, . . . 10 

Apoplexy, 33 

Big Head, 77 

Blistering, 90 

Bots, 75 

Blood, or Bog Spavin, . . 90 

Bone Spavin, 90 

Broken Wind, or Roaring, 64 

Capped Hock, .... 90 

Catarrh, ...... 56 

Chest Founder, .... 76 

Cleasing Powders, ... 51 
Colic, Spasmodic, or Flatu- 
lent, 41 

Colic, Inflammatory, . . 46 

Cold, 57 

Consumption, 63 

Costiveness, ...... 55 

Cough, ....... 58 

Coras, 90 

Distemper, 56 

Diseases of the Tongue, . 14 
Direction for fitting the 

shoes, etc., 108 

Disorder of the Bladder 
and Urinary Organs 

generally, 53 

Docking, 96 

Eyes, description of the, . 12 

inflammation of the, 12 

Farcy, 23 



Farcy, Water, or Dropsical 

Swellings, 30 

Fistula of the Withers, . 83 

Fits, 33 

Foot, its organization, . . 100 

its preparation, . . 104 

its preservation, . . 104 

Contraction of the, . Ill 

Canker, 113 

Flat or Pumiced, . . 109 

Sand-Crack, ... 114 

Quittor, 113 

Gravel in the, . . . 113 

Thrush, 112 

Founder, 98 

Fractures, 93 

Glands, swelling of the, . 87 

Glanders, 18 

Grease, 68 

Hard Tumors, etc., ... 85 
Haws, or Hooks, .... 14 
Heaves, Thumps, Palpita- 
tion, 67 

Hide-bound, 73 

History of the Horse and 

of Veterinary science, . 7 

How to drive vicious horses, 119 
How to subdue vicious 

horses, 119 

Inflammation of the kid- 
neys, 51 



VI 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Lampas, 15 

Locked-jaw, 37 

Lungs, inflammation of the, 60 

Lung fever, 60 

Mad dog bite, or Hydropho- 
bia, . 94 

Malignant epidemic, . . 76 

Mange, 71 

Megrims, 83 

Method of taming wild or 

vicious horses, . . . 115 

Molton grease, .... 49 
Nasal Gleet, or discharge 

from the nose, .... 32 

Phrenitis, 33 

Poll Evil, 81 

Powell's system of ap- 
proaching the colt, . . 116 
Pulse, remarks on, . . . 42 
Rattlesnake bite, ... 95 
Roweling, manner of, . . 91 

Ring-bone, 90 

Setons, ........ 91 

Sectional View of the Foot 

and Leg 102 

Scouring and other disor- 
ders of the intestines, . " 54 
Scratches, 68 



PAGE. 

Sitfasts, 85 

Sprains, bruises, etc v . . 88 

Splints, ....... 90 

Stiff complaint, .... 79 

Strangles, ....*. 16 

of the gullet, . 17 

Bastard, ... 18 

Stringhalt, 93 

Shoulder jam, or big shoul- 
der, 89 

Staggers, 33 

Styptic wash, stopping the 

blood, 97 

Surfeit, 70 

Sweeny, 89 

Thorough-pin, .... 90 

Thick wind, ..... 64 
To prevent horses from 
frightening at a robe ; 
the sense of feeling and 

smelling, 118 

Vertigo, 33 

Vives, 87 

Warbles, or saddle galls, . 84 

Warts, 96 

Wind-galls, 90 

Worms, 74 

Wounds, 86 

Yellows, or jaundice, . . 49 




HISTOKY OF THE HORSE 



VETERINARY SCIENCE 



From the records of the Old Testament, we learn 
that upward of seventeen hundred years before Christ, 
horses were first domesticated and used by the Egyp- 
tians, who were at that time the most advanced in civi- 
lization, and before Greece was peopled. According to 
the writings of Moses, the ox, the sheep, the goat, the 
ass, and the camel, were subdued before the horse 

m 



8 horseman's companion. 

became the servant of man. No sooner was he subdued, 
and his strength, docility and sagacity appreciated, than 
the others were comparatively disregarded, except on 
barren deserts where the horse could not live. 

It is probable that the horse was first transmitted 
from Greece to other distant countries. 

The Thessalians, the first and most expert of the 
Grecian horsemen, and also the inhabitants of Argos 
and of Athens, were colonists from Egypt. 

Fifty years after the expulsion of the Israelites from 
Egypt, and fourteen hundred and fifty years before the 
birth of Christ, the horse was so far naturalized in 
Greece, that the Olympic games were instituted, in- 
cluding chariot and horse races. We have, therefore, 
sufficient evidence that the horse was, at a very early 
period, subjected to the dominion of man. Many years 
prior to the time referred to, an account is given in the 
32d chap. Genesis, of the number of oxen, goats, sheep, 
camels and asses, that Jacob presented to Esau to ap- 
pease his anger, but not one horse is mentioned, which, 
in all probability, would have been done, had the horse 
been known. 

Chiron the Thessalian, a personage whom antiquity 
held in extreme veneration, and who, from his tran- 
scendent skill in horsemanship, and many other arts, 
was called the wise Centaur, lived to the age of the 
Trojan war. This great man descends to us as the father 
of medicine, and the instructor of Esculapius in that 
art. He was, on the concurrent testimony of antiquity, 
profoundly skilled therein, as also in the care and man- 
agement of cattle. 

In the days of ancient Greece and Rome, the most 
learned philosophers, statesmen and warriors, did not 



VETERINARY SCIENCE. 9 

disdain to instruct the tillers of the land in the culti- 
vation of the soil, and on the management and diseases 
of dumb creatures, constituting as they do the substan- 
tial wealth of nations. Varro, Cato, Vegetius, and other 
illustrious men and princes, thought it not derogatory 
to lend their names or their pens to veterinary science. 
Virgil also found great favor with Caesar for curing his 
horses, and by foreseeing and announcing the qualities 
of the produce of a mare and other animals. 

We meet in Xenophon with proof, that veterinary 
science had been cultivated before his time. Sainbel 
says: "Before the fall of Carthage, Mago carried this, 
as well as every other branch of rural science, so far, 
that Columella does not scruple to call him the father 
of Roman agriculture." 

The decline of the Roman empire, and the decay of 
arts and sciences, occasioned for a time the destruction 
of this, as well as every other branch of knowledge. 
But, while veterinary medicine was lost in the west, 
and was declining fast in G-reece, it found an asylum 
among the Arabians, a nation destined, it should seem, 
by providence, to receive in trust the knowledge of 
Europe, until emerged from the abject state into which 
it was plunged. 

It would be to no purpose to trace the progress of 
this art through all its vicissitudes. 

In the twelfth century, a period at which Arabian 
learning was at its hight, the Moors of S«pain boasted 
Ibnu, a native of Malaga. This learned man left be- 
hind him a large treatise on the virtue of herbs ; on 
poisons; on metals; and on animals. 

Abubecre, master of the horse to the Sultan of Egypt, 
who reigned near the close of the thirteenth century, 



10 horseman's companion. 

left a work on the medicine of horses, and on the art 
of breaking them. 

Veterinary science had made but little progress until 
the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Francis 
the First, of France, gave orders to Ruelle, to collect 
together from the writings of the ancients, whatever 
might tend to improve this neglected division of the 
art, which collection was soon after made, and printed 
at Paris in 1530. 

In 1762, there was established in the city of Lyons, 
a school, in which might be taught the knowledge and 
treatment of diseases of cattle of every description. 
There was, soon afterward, another school established at 
Paris, others at Vienna, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, 
Piedmont, and Hanover. It was not until the resi- 
dence in England of Sainbel, (through whose exertions 
arose the Veterinary College of London, 1792,) that 
true veterinary science began to be cultivated there. 
He was a man of transcendent skill, and stands the 
corner stone and original source of that knowledge and 
practice which was adopted in London, and prevails to 
some extent in the United States. 



AGE. 

When a colt is foaled he has no teeth in the front 
of his mouth ; in about two weeks, two above and two 
below make their appearance. 

At four or five weeks old, the next two teeth (one on 
each side) above and below, appear. At about four 
months old the corner teeth come up. 

After this period the whole six teetji wear even, and 
so continue smooth and unmarked until two years and 



AGE. 11 

a half, the corner teeth being still the less perfect, the 
front ones the largest. Between the second and third 
year, the colt sheds his two middle teeth, above and 
below ; between the third and fourth year, the two next 
are changed. 

Between the fourth and fifth year, the two corner 
teeth are changed. 

About the end of the fourth year, or a little later, the 
tushes or bridle teeth appear in the horse's mouth. 
Mares seldom have any tushes. At five years old, the 
horse has a full mouth of permanent or horse teeth, 
well marked with dark-brown cavities or grooves in the 
end surface — six above and six below, in the forepart 
of his mouth — called gatherers or cutting teeth, and it 
is from these we know his age ; and twenty-four grind- 
ers behind, from which we tell nothing of his age ; then 
four tushes, two above and two below, making, in all, 
forty. 

Toward the close of the sixth year, the black cavities, 
in the two middle teeth in the under-jaw, are filling up; 
and rising six, the next two begin to wear, and at seven 
years, the grooves in the middle teeth are about gone, 
leaving only a mark resembling the eye of a bean. Up 
to this age, the two corner teeth retain the mark, and 
that but slightly, when the horse acquires the term 
"aged," and in about another year, the two corner teeth 
•fill up. 

This is the state of the lower jaw at seven years old, 
but the teeth of the upper jaw do not fill up so fast by 
two years. The marks in the two front teeth of the 
upper jaw are not obliterated until eight years old, the 
next two about the tenth year, and the two corner teeth 
above do not lose their marks until about the twelfth 



12 horseman's companion. 

year. From this period, the teeth contract in size, be- 
come roundish, and leave a small space between them; 
which space increases up to the fourteenth or fifteenth 
year, when each tooth assumes an angular shape, and 
projects forward irregularly. In another year or two, 
the jaw becomes contracted, the gums recede consider- 
ably from the roots, and the shape of the teeth is then 
of an oblong, and contrary to the first. 

The general indications of old age, independent of the 
teeth, are deepening of the hollows over the eyes, gray 
hairs, particularly over the eyes and about the muzzle, 
thinness and hanging down of the under-lip, sharpness 
of the withers, sinking of the back, and lengthening of 
the quarters, etc. 

EYES. 

The eye is a most important organ, and should be 
large and a little prominent, and the eyelid fine and 
thin. If the eye be sunk in the head, and the lid be 
thick, and if there be any puckering toward the inner 
corner of the eyelids, the eye is either diseased, or has 
been lately subject to inflammation. All weeping, 
cloudy, dull-looking eyes are unsound. When the 
horse is led out of a dark stable into the light, observe 
whether his eyes contract, and whether they expand in 
the shade ; if they do, you may conclude that the eyes 
are good. 

INFLAMMATION OP THE EYE. 
The common inflammation is generally sudden in its 
attack. The lids will be found swelled, the eyes par- 
tially closed, with some weeping. The inside of the lid 
will be red, some red streaks visible on the white of the 



EYES. 13 

eye, and the cornea slightly dim. This is sometimes 
connected with catarrh or cold, and sometimes caused 
by a blow or something getting within the lid. It may 
sometimes be necessary to give a gentle purge, though 
cooling applications to the eye, as the Groulard's Extract, 
will often be sufficient. 

Recipe No. 1. 

goulard's wash for the eyes. 

Extract of lead, . . two drachms. 

Soft running water, . . one pint. 
Mix and apply to the eye once or more through the 
day, getting as much in the eye as possible. 

The following lotion is also good to lessen the pain: 

Recipe No. 2. 

Tincture of digitalis, . . six drachms. 
Soft running water, . . one pint. 

If one or both of the above lotions have been applied, 
and the inflammation is not reduced in a few days, it 
may be necessary to bleed him from the angular vein, 
at the inner Corner of the eye, or turn the eyelids inside 
out and scarify them, or bleed largely from the jugular. 
A seton in the cheek, or under the jaw, is also useful 
in removing the inflammation from the diseased parts. 
If the disease continues to be troublesome, the follow- 
ing wash may be used with good effect : 

Reci-pe No. 3. 

Sulphate of zinc, . . four grains. 
Sugar of lead, . . .six grains. 
Water, .... half pint. 

Bub them together until they are dissolved, and wash 



14 horseman's companion. 

the eye several times ; introduce as much as you can 
within the lids. 



HAWS OB, HOOKS. 

Sometimes what are called haws project on ' the 
forepart of the eye, and the eye is drawn back by the 
retractor muscle ; and the haw or washer, having par- 
taken of the general inflammation, becomes enlarged, 
and covers a portion of the eye, and the horse is said 
to have the hooks. When the inflammation subsides, 
the haw will return to its natural size. If the cooling 
lotions on the preceding page, with gentle physic, .does 
not set all right, it may be necessary to cut it out, 
which can be done without any material injury resulting 
from it. 

The following mild purgative may be serviceable, if 
given when the horse is first taken — mild purgative 
ball. 

Recipe No. 4. 

Aloes, .... four drachms. 
Castile soap, . . . four drachms. 

Mix with mucilage for one ball. 

To be repeated if necessary, and the horse to have 
soft, digestible food, and not exposed to cold, disagree- 
able weather. 



DISEASES OP THE TONGUE. 

This disease often exists without the nature of it 
being known. Bladders will sometimes appear along 
the side and under the tongue. The bladders must be 
deeply lanced, and they will generally get well. The 



LAMPAS. 15 

following is an excellent wash for foul ulcers of all 
kinds, and will assist them to heal : 

Recipe No. 5. 

SOLUTION OF CHLORIDE OP LIME. 

Chloride of lime, (in powder,) one and a-half drachms. 

Dissolved in a pint of water, put in a bottle, and 
keep for use. 

Wash the mouth and tongue; and should the ulcers 
continue offensive, it may be necessary to give a mild 
purge, and use the following wash : 

Recipe No. 6. 
ALUM WASH. 

Powdered alum, . . two ounces. 
Water, . . . . one quart. 

Bottle, and keep for use. 



LAMPAS. 

The palate of the young horse is more subject to 
inflammation than of the old. The bars of the mouth 
sometimes swell below the surface of the teeth, and 
become very painful when feeding, and the horse falls 
off in condition. Many persons recommend physic and 
bleeding of the bars, and object to the burning of 
them as a barbarous operation. Within the last twenty 
years I have burned them out with a sharp iron made 
for the purpose, and I have not known one case where 
they returned, and I have burned a great many. Take 
a flat piece of iron, heavy enough to hold the heat, and 
as wide as your three fingers, (less will do ;) make the 
end sharp, file the corners a little round, and bend it 



16 

up about half an inch, heat it red hot, and burn about 
a quarter of an inch deep, or according to the size of 
the enlargement, and not above the first bar. (I take a 
piece out.) If properly done, it will be well in a day or 
two, so that the horse can eat hard food. The horse 
should have mashes in place of hard food, immediately 
after the operation is performed. 



THE STRANGLES. 

This is a disease common with young horses. It is 
preceded by a cough 5 and, at first, is very much like 
the common cough, except a greater discharge from the 
nostril, which is generally without smell. It is accom- 
panied by some fever, weeping of the eyes, an inclina- 
tion, to eat and drink, without being able, on account 
of the pain resulting, from the working of the jaws 
while chewing and swallowing. These painful symptoms 
are produced by a swelling which comes about the 
center of the channel under the jaw. It soon fills the 
whole space, and is, evidently, one uniform body, and 
may thus be distinguished from glanders, or the en- 
larged glands of catarrh. The swelling increases, the 
tumor bursts, and a quantity of matter is discharged, 
and the horse soon gets well. The best thing we can 
do for this disease, is to clip the hair off close at the 
part affected, to allow of greater effect from whatever 
we may apply to promote the ripening of the tumor. 
Mild cases will require only the assistance of a few 
poultices or stimulating liniment. Make a poultice of 
a pound of linseed meal, and add two ounces of com- 
mon turpentine, and apply it to the part affected. If 
the tumor is very slow in ripening, apply the following 
stimulating liniment : 



STRANGLES. 17 

Recipe No. 8. 
STIMULATING LINIMENT. 

Mustard, powdered, . one ounce. 
Liquid ammonia, . . three drachms. 

If there be symptoms of fever, give the following lax- 
ative drench : 

Recipe No. 9. 
LAXATIVE DRENCH. 

Linseed oil, . . . one pint. 

Water gruel, . . . one pint, Mis. 

Meantime, when it is evident that the tumor contains 
matter, it should be freely lanced, the incision should 
be deep and large enough to allow all the matter to 
run out; there should be no squeezing the tumor to 
force the matter out ; it must be kept clean, and if it 
runs slow, a warm poultice may be applied, or fomenta- 
tions used to assist the discharge. 



STBAHGLES OF THE GULLET. 

Sometimes there is an obstinate running at the nose, 
that lasts a long while, and sometimes ends fatally, by 
the animal wasting away in pulmonary consumption. 
Many persons mistake this disorder for glanders, but it 
may be known from that disease by a rattling in the 
gullet, and by the quality of the running, which is 
white and curdled, and the animal seldom, if ever, 
troubled with a cough, and then is very feeble, and 
shows frequent contractions of the windpipe. 
2 



18 horseman's companion. 

BASTARD STRANGLES. 

Hinds says, with a great show of truth, that 
"bastard strangles is a favorite term with some persons 
who would soften down the real fact of their horses 
having the glanders, which it really is, and not strangles. 
But bastard or not bastard, it is always infectious, and 
the animal either dies of strangulation, or the disorder 
becomes the glanders, producing a sanious discharge 
from the nose when the cough ceases." 

FUMIGATION. 

Take the leaves and root of marsh-mallows, — an arm 
full, water six quarts, boil them, and put the whole into 
a nose bag, and hang it round the head of the animal 
to make him inhale the steam, the bag may be made of 
stout cloth, but hung with the upper part quite open, 
to avoid suffocation, leave the bag at the animal's nose 
until no more steam will arise. This will be found a 
very proper remedy, in all cases of strangles, the first 
stage of glanders, and obstinate colds. 



GLANDERS. 

The most formidable of all the diseases to which the 
horse is subject, is glanders. Glanders may be either 
bred in the horse, or communicated by contagion. It 
is often produced by improper stable management. The 
air which is necessary to respiration is changed and 
empoisoned in its passage through the lungs, and a 
fresh supply is necessary for the support of life. In 
close and ill-ventilated stables, the air passing so often 
to the lungs becomes vitiated, and produces irtitation 
and disease, such stables often witness the ravages of 



GLANDERS. 19 

glanders. The membrane of the nose, possessed of 
extreme sensibility for the purposes of smell, is easily- 
irritated by this poison. 

Glanders may be produced by any thing that injures, 
or for a length of time acts upon, and weakens, the 
vital energy of this membrane. 

Violent catarrh, long and continued discharge from 
the nostrils, violent inflammatory diseases, and any thing 
that will weaken and exhaust the constitution, may re- 
sult in the appearance of glanders. It may be received by 
one horse rubbing against another, by the breath, and by 
a sound horse eating the slavered food of a diseased one ; 
diseased stables, foul racks and mangers, and litter upon 
which a tainted horse has lain, will infect a sound 
animal, if unfortunately he is put into such a situation 
at the time the disease is active upon the thing infected. 

The symptoms of glanders frequently vary, and to a 
most puzzling degree. Sometimes the discharge will be 
so slight as scarcely to be perceived, and known only 
by its stickiness ; and the glands will not be in the 
least degree enlarged. At other times, a very , small 
enlarged gland may be found adhering to the jaw. and 
may be stationary month after month, and the surgeon 
may be told that there has never been discharge from 
the nose. He will, however, be wrongly informed here ; 
it has most assuredly existed, although perhaps in so 
small a quantity that the groom or driver will deny its 
existence ; and he will principally satisfy himself with 
respect to it by its gluey feeling. 

It is remarkable that the virus, in most cases of glan- 
ders, does not produce, in the beginning, any sensible 
alteration in the animal's health; the horse taken with 
it has neither fever, dullness, nor distaste to food ; the 



20 horseman's companion. 

appetite is good, the digestion easy, and the secretions 
regular. 

The inward cavities of the nose are lined in their 
whole extent by the pituitary membrane. Its texture is 
composed of nerves, arteries, veins, and excretory ves- 
sels, which proceed from a multitude of glands spread 
through its whole substance. These nerves are branches 
of the olfactory nerves, and constitute the organs of 
smelling. The arterial vessels proceed from a branch 
of the inward upper carotid artery; and the veinous ves- 
sels unite together, in order to flow into the jugular 
vein. In its natural state, this membrane is constantly 
moistened and lubricated by a mucilaginous liquor, 
which defends it against too strong an impression of 
the air, and preserves it from inflammation. 

The want of fluidity in the blood and lymph occasions 
the obstruction of the vessels of the pituitary membrane. 
The irritation of the nerves, by producing a contraction 
of the vessels contributes to this obstruction. 

The relaxation of the texture of the membrane, by 
depriving the vessels of their tone, occasions a stoppage 
of the fluid, and produces obstruction, and inflammation 
generally follows. 

. The inflammation of the pituitary membrane produces 
a discharge of limpid matter, sometimes slimy, always 
transparent in the beginning. If the inflammation in- 
creases, the stagnated humors become corrupt, and turn 
to a thick white pus. 

If it lodges and remains in the cavities, it becomes 
sharp and corrosive, attacks the bony substance, lacer- 
ates the bloodvessels, and this mixed virus produces a 
discharge of a yellowish, green, or bloody appearance. 

The flow of matter from the nostrils proceeds from 



GLANDERS. 21 

various causes ; and it is necessary to become acquainted 
with the symptoms that attend the strangles, catarrh, 
asthma, and consumption, in order not to confound the 
glanders with other diseases. 

No cough accompanies real glanders in its early 
stages ; the first external symptom is a discharge at the 
nostrils, and that generally the left ; and the gland of 
that side only is affected. Of eight hundred cases of 
glanders that came under the notice of M. Dupuy, the 
director of the veterinary school at Toulhouse, only one 
horse was affected in the right nostril. 

As the disorder proceeds, it is apt to affect both sides ; 
both nostrils run, and the glands within the under jaw, 
on both sides, will be enlarged. Glanders, however, 
will frequently exist at an early stage without these 
swelled glands, and some other diseases, as catarrh, may 
produce them. In glanders, the swelling may be some- 
what large and diffused, but the surrounding enlarge- 
ment soon goes off, and one or two small, distinct glands 
remain ; and they are not in the center of the channel, 
but adhere closely to the jaw. They are simply hard 
tumors without any matter in them. 

The membrane of the nose may be examined and will 
materially guide our opinion. It will either be of a dark 
purplish hue, or almost of a leaden color, or of any shade 
between the two ; or, if there be some of the redness of 
inflammation, it will have a purple tinge ; but there will 
never be the faint pink blush of health, or the intense 
and vivid red of inflammation. 

When ulcers appear on the membrane of the nose, the 
constitution will be evidently affected. The horse will 
lose flesh; his belly will be tucked up, his coat will be 
unthrifty and readily come off, cough' will be heard, the 



22 

appetite will be impaired, the strength will fail, the dis- 
charge from the nose will grow more purulent, discol- 
ored, bloody, stinking; the ulcers will increase, and the 
air-passages being obstructed, a grating, choking noise 
is heard at every act of breathing. The lungs are now 
diseased, the whole circulation does at length become 
empoisoned, and the animal presents one mass of putre- 
faction, and dies, an emaciated and loathsome object. 

This disease, in its different forms, has been known 
to exist for two or three years, but, before its termina- 
tion, becomes connected with farcy. Few horses die 
of glanders, without exhibiting some appearance of 
farcy; and farcy, in its latter stages, is often accom- 
panied by glanders. They are different forms or stages 
of the same disease. 

The remedies that have been applied to the afflicted 
animal, in this forlorn disease, are found of no avail, 
unless taken at an early period. 

As soon as a horse is suspected of glanders, he should 
be kept separate from all others, and the fumigation of 
marsh-mallows applied, as prescribed at page 18, re- 
peatedly ; a purgative or an alterative may be given, 
according to the state of his body, and the usual rem- 
edies as for catarrh, continued for a week or. ten days. 

If the disorder does not lessen in this time, the fol- 
lowing ball may be given : 

Recipe No. 12. 
BALL FOR GLANDERS. - 

Sulphate of copper, (powdered,) ' one drachm. 
Gentian, . . . . one drachm. 

Ginger, ..... one drachm. 
Linseed or palm oil, sufficient to form a ball. 



FAKCY. 23 

Give one ball, morning and night, for about two 
weeks, and then daily as long as may be necessary, or 
the constitutional treatment recommended for farcy may 
be adopted, or five or six drachms of aloes may be 
given, and then the following : 

The diniodicle of copper. The union of two parts of 
the iodide of potassium with four of the sulphate of 
copper, has been given in the early stages of glanders, 
with success. 

Recipe No. 13. 

Iodide of potassium, . . half drachm. 

Sulphate of copper, (powdered,) one drachm. 

Make into a ball, and give one night and morning. 
The dose may be increased a quarter of a drachm each 
day, until two and a-half or three drachms is given. 
Little or no corn should be given. The horse should 
have green food or mashes. 

If the symptoms still increase in virulence, the horse 
should be destroyed, and his body-clothing burned, and 
every thing about the stable scraped — washed first with 
soap and water, and then with a solution of the chloride 
of lime, (Recipe No. 5, page 15.) 

Care should be taken that the hands of the person 
who gives the medicines are sound, for the disease has 
been communicated to the human being, and lives have 
been lost by it. Gloves and the balling-iron should be 
used. 



FARCY. 

This is also a contagious disease, and often attributed 
to bad stable management. It frequently runs its course 



24 

quicker than glanders, although, like that malady, it 
sometimes lurks long in the frame before its destructive 
effects are seen. They are intimately connected, and 
will run into each other, or their symptoms will mingle 
together ; and before either arrives at its fatal termina- 
tion, its associate will almost invariably appear. 

It is produced by all the causes that give rise to 
glanders ; there is, however, this difference, the farcy is 
more frequently generated, and if taken in its early 
stage, may be more successfully treated. 

Symptoms. — Sometimes the first indication of this 
disease is the appearance of small tumors, resembling 
grapes, following the course of the veins, and painful 
when pressed with the finger. "When very small, they 
may exist for several weeks without being observed. 
They are hard at first, but at length they increase in 
number and in size, and become softer and more pain- 
ful, and begin to ulcerate; They are then termed farcy 
buds. They usually appear about the face or neck, or 
inside of the legs. In the latter case painful swellings 
of the limbs are seen. 

In some cases, however, the disease commences in, 
and is, for a time, confined to one of the hind limbs. 

These lumps may be distinguished from the surfeit 
lumps. They are more knotty, higher, and not so 
broad ; and are oftenest found on the inside of the 
limbs instead of the outside, and following the course 
of the veins. 

As the disease advances, there is swelling of the nose, 
lips, and sometimes over the body ; a glanderous, offen- 
sive, bloody matter, is discharged from the nostrils, 
the animal becomes hide-bound, and losing flesh and 
strength, and finally dies a mass of corruption. 



I 



FARCY. 25 

Treatment. — The treatment of farcy varies with the 
form it assumes. 

When the buds appear, a mild purgative should be 
given, and the buds should be examined ; and if any 
of them have opened, the budding iron, of a dull, red 
heat, should be applied to them ; or, if they contain 
matter, and are not broken, they should be penetrated 
with the hot iron. When the slough of the cautery 
comes off, if they look pale, and foul, and spongy, and 
discharge matter, they should be washed with a lotion, 
composed of — 

Recipe No. 14. 

Corrosive sublimate, . one drachm. 

Dissolved in two ounces of spirits of wine, and two 
ounces of vinegar, slowly added. 

Or the following solution of the sulphate of iron 
may be used, instead of the above : 

Recipe No. 15. 

LOTION FOR FARCY. 

Sulphate of iron, (green vitriol, powdered.) one ounce. 

And dissolve it in a quart of spring water. To every 
pint of the solution add a quarter of an ounce of sul- 
phuric acid, (oil of vitriol.) 

Bathe the ulcers with this lotion two or three times 
a day. If the animal was, when the disease was dis- 
covered, in good condition, strong and vigorous, it is 
likely he acquired it by infection. If he is still fleshy, 
and the pulse full, take three or four quarts of blood, 
and give the following purgative : 



26 



Recipe No. 16. 

PURGATIVE BALL. 

Barbadoes aloes, . . six drachms. 
Castile soap, . . . one drachm. 
Liquorice powder, sufficient to form the 
ball for one dose. 

The animal should be prepared with bran mashes, to 
facilitate the operation of the physic. 

After the animal has been reduced by the above 
treatment, the following alterative may be given for 
three successive nights, then stop one night between 
each dose, until the disease is subdued : 

Recipe No. 17. 

ALTERATIVE BALL. 

Camphor,. . . . one drachm. 

Tartar emetic, . . . one drachm. 

Assafetida, . . . one drachm. 

Ginger, .... one drachm. 

With mucilage sufficient to form the ball for one 



If the foregoing treatment does not seem to subdue 
the disease, try the diniodide of copper, (Recipe No. 13, 
page 23,) with the addition of from one to two drachms 
of gentian, and one of ginger. 

The last mentioned preparation is, probably, the best 
medicine known for farcy and glanders. The gentian 
and ginger may be added or not ; as a tonic and stimu- 
lant, they would, probably, be beneficial. 

In speaking of farcy in its worst stages, Hinds says 
it "is that which is spread minutely all over the body 
and limbs, and has penetrated the whole system." In 



FARCY. 27 

whichever manner the animal may have acquired the 
disorder, we may safely presume that the mass of 
humors are hideously depraved ; and mercury, in one 
or other of its varied forms, is the only antidote to be 
relied on for its extinction. Previously, however, the 
farcy buds and ulcers must be reduced to common 
sores, by means of the actual cautery freely applied to 
each. When these slough off, and the sores assume a 
healthy appearance, less of the mercurial preparation 
will be required; but if these retain a livid and, there- 
fore, unhealthy hue, accompanied by a poisonous dis- 
charge, that ulcerates the adjacent parts, a thorough 
course of mercury is the only certain remedy, and this 
must be managed with caution. 

Recipe No. IS. 
MERCURIAL BALL, NO. I. 

iEthiop's mineral, . . two drachms. 
Opium, .... ten grains. 

With Liquorice powder and mucilage to form the ball 
for one dose. 

G-ive twice a day, until the patient's breath smells 
very offensive, and then discontinue the medicine a day 
or two, as you should also when the animal is found to 
stale inordinately, or the bowels be very much disor- 
dered. But, when the bowels are only slightly affected, 
increase the quantity of opium to twenty or thirty grains. 

Recipe No. 19. 

MERCURIAL BALL, NO. II. 

Corrosive sublimate, . . ten grains. 
Tartar emetic, . ; . half a drachm. 
Opium, .... half a drachm. 



28 horseman's companion. 

Mix with liquorice powder and mucilage to form the 
ball for one dose, and give as above. 



Recipe No. 20. 

MERCURIAL BALL, NO. III. 

Corrosive sublimate, . . ten grains. 

Powdered gentian, . . two drachms. 

" ginger, . . one drachm. 

Linseed meal, . . . half an ounce. 

Make the whole into a ball with palm oil. 

Give at night and morning for several days. The 
animal may be fed generously diAing the operation of 
this strong medicine, and its progress carefully watched, 
lest salivation or violent purging ensue ; if he should 
appear very sick or greatly agitated, and off his appetite, 
the medicine should be lessened in quantity, or discon- 
tinued for a short time, or altogether. 

In salivation, wash the mouth freely with the solution 
of chloride of lime, (Recipe No. 5, page 15,) and after- 
ward by the following, if necessary. 



Recipe No. 21. 

INFUSION OP CATECHU. 

Take two ounces of powdered catechu, pour a quart 
of boiling water on it, and set it aside in a covered 
vessel an hour; occasionally shake it, and pour off the 
clear liquor, add an ounce of spirits of wine, and bottle 
for use. In case of salivation, and after the mercury 
has been discontinued, the following alterative may be 
given morning and night: 



FARCY. 29 

Recipe No. 22. 

ALTERATIVE BALL. 

Black sulphuret of antimony, two drachms. 
Sulphur, .... two drachms. 
Powdered nitre, . . . three drachms. 
Linseed meal, . . . two drachms. 
Beat them into a mass with palm oil. 
But, if much purging and griping have been pro 
duced by the mercury, starch or arrow-root may be freely 
given, and the following drink morning and night : 

Recipe No. 23. 

DRINK FOR PURGING FROM MERCURY. 

Take powdered opium, two drachms, and rub in well 
the contents of one raw egg, and then add two more 
eggs, each well rubbed in, then add half pint thin gruel ; 
mix well. 

If the purging is not arrested in two days, the starch 
and arrow-root may be continued, and the following 
given morning and night until the purging begins to 
cease. 

Recipe No. 24. 
ASTRINGENT DRINK. 

Powdered catechu, . . two drachms. 

Powdered opium, . . one drachm. 

Powdered ginger, . . one drachm. 

Prepared chalk, . . five drachms. 

The contents of one egg. 

Rub them well together and add half pint thin grueh 

The treatment of farcy and glanders in some of their 

varied stages are so nearly the same, that it would be 

better to study well the symptoms and treatment of both 

diseases, in order to be better able to adopt the best 



30 



mode in each case. If no benefit is obtained from the 
use of the corrosive sublimate in ten or fifteen days, the 
following may be used with some benefit: 

Recipe No. 25. 

BALL FOR FARCY. 

Sulphate of copper, . . one drachm. 
Powdered ginger, 



Powdered gentian, 
Linseed meal, . 
Palm oil, . 



one drachm, 
two drachms, 
three drachms, 
to make one ball. 



This ball may be given twice a day, and continued 
with safety for several weeks, or as long as may be ne- 
cessary; or the diniodide of copper before mentioned 
may be used to better advantage, or either of the above 
may be used successfully without having recourse to the 
mercury at all. See pages 23 and 26. 

If the hot iron is applied to the buds it must be done 
very carefully ; sometimes blue vitriol is used for the 
same purpose. 



WATER FARCY, OR DROPSY. 

Dropsical swellings sometimes appear between the 
fore legs, on the chest, under the belly, and in different 
parts of the body; they sometimes accompany other 
diseases, and sometimes appear when there is no other 
disease than debility, resulting from some disease, or from 
the changing of the coat, foul feeding, or a long rainy 
spell of weather. The swellings are soft, and when the 
finger is pressed hard upon them, the hollow resulting 
from the pressure may be seen some time after. 

The treatment will vary with the cause of the affection 



WATER FARCY, OR DROPSY. 



31 



or the accompanying disease. It is often necessary to 
make small holes or punctures in the skin with the 
lancet, taking care to avoid the veins. This may have 
to be done several times before the swelling subsides. 
It is generally best to give a gentle purge once a week 
for a while, and also, diuretics; bran mashes should be 
given, and gentle exercise; his feed may be increased 
by degrees. The disorder mostly happens to young 
horses that have not been used to high feed. 

The following may be given every day, except the 
time when the physic is working : 

Recipe No. 26. 

Squills, .... two ounces. 

Camphor, .... one ounce. 

Castile soap, . . . one ounce. 

Turpentine, . . . half ounce, or 

Yellow rosin, . . . four ounces. 

Make these into a ball with honey, and give one ounce 
at a time. These will work the water off by urine. 

When the horse begins to recover, give him a pint of 
the following infusion every day for a fortnight fasting, 
and let him fast one hour after each dose. 



Recipe No. 27. 

Gentian root, . . four ounces. 

Black hellebore, . . three ounces. 

Jesuit's bark, , . . two ounces. 

Camomile flowers, . . four ounces. 

Centaury, .... one hand full. 

Boil all together in six quarts of water for ten min- 
utes, let it stand till cool, and then strain it through a 
cloth. An author of experience says this strengthening 



32 nORSEMAN'S COMPANION. 

drink will brace the fibers, cause the fluids to circulate 
quicker, and complete the cure. 



NASAL GLEET, OR DISCHARGE FROM THE 
NOSE. 

There is sometimes a discharge from the nose after 
other diseases have passed away, and the animal other- 
wise appears in good health. 

If the discharge be not offensive to the smell, nor 
mixed with any matter, it is probably merely an increased 
and somewhat vitiated secretion from the cavities of the 
nose, and there being no fever, will generally yield to 
small doses of blue vitriol, from one to two drachms 
twice a day. If the discharge is offensive, gentian and 
ginger may be added to the copper. 

Recipe No. 28. 

Sulphate of copper, . . one drachm. 

Powdered gentian, . . two drachms. 

Powdered ginger, . . one drachm. 

Palm oil to make one ball. 
Better turn the horse out to grass if possible, for there 
is danger, if the discharge continues for some time, that 
it may terminate in glanders. 

If there be any cough or fever accompanying the dis- 
charge from the nose, it may be catarrh, cold, or some 
other disease. The powders recommended for distemper, 
(recipe JSTo. 61,) is good for old discharges that are not 
glanderous, and may be given in place of recipe No. 28. 



STAGGERS, ETC. 33 



STAGGERS, VERTIGO, MEGRIMS, APOPLEXY, 
PHRENITIS, PITS. 

Many writers have divided this disease into several 
different parts under several different names, which only 
confound the reader instead of enlightening him. 

Staggers is the common name given to all those dis- 
orders which are accompanied by swimming of the head, 
or terminate in affection of the brain. Violent exercise 
in a hot day, and the horse being fat and full of blood, 
more than the usual quantity will be sent to the head, 
or if the collar is too small, or the curb-rein too tight, 
the blood will be prevented from returning from the 
head, and thus the larger vessels of the brain will be too 
long and injuriously distended, and the small vessels 
which run through the substance of the brain will be 
enlarged, and the bulk of the brain will be increased, 
and almost without warning, delirium or apoplexy comes 
on. 

Other causes produce the disorder ; it arises from in- 
digestion, or the horse not having power to discharge 
his over-loaded stomach, and it sometimes having been 
previously exhausted by long fasting, is unable to con- 
tract upon its contents ; the food soon begins to ferment 
and swell, causing great distension ; the brain sympa- 
thises with this over-loaded organ and staggers are pro- 
duced. The mildest affection of this disorder, attended 
with drowsiness, is known by the name of megrims, 
sleepy, or stomach staggers; while phrenitis, or mad 
staggers, is that affection of the brain which causes the 
animal to kick, to dash himself furiously about, some- 
times fall or become dangerous to persons about him, 
but apparently unconscious of what he is about, and with 



34 horseman's companion. 

no design to do mischief; sometimes the animal suddenly 
dies, or wears himself out in frightful struggles. 

These different symptoms are a different form or va- 
riety of the same disease, arising from the same causes, 
and require the same treatment, varied only according 
to the extent of the disorder. The first thing to be 
done is to relieve the brain from the pressure of the 
blood upon it by copious bleeding; and in mad staggers 
both jugulars should be opened, and the blood should 
flow until it produces faintness. 

If there be foul stomach or costiveness, which is often 
the case, an active purgative should be given immedi- 
ately ; the most active of these is the croton nut pow- 
dered, and given in the dose of a half drachm, and fol- 
lowed by smaller doses of ten grains each, every six 
hours, with plenty of injections of warm soap and water 
until the bowels are well opened ; or from thirty to forty 
drops of croton oil may be given instead of the meal or 
farina, as above mentioned. If the croton is not at hand, 
aloes may be given, dissolved in hot water, an ounce at 
the first dose, and two or three drachms every four hours 
until purging is produced; or the following preparation 
is probably better than either of the above : 

Recipe No. 30. 

STRONG PHYSIC DRINK. 

Barbadoes aloes, < . two ounces. 

Grum arabic, . . . one ounce. 
Both being powdered, pour on them a pint of boiling 
water, and add twelve grains of farina or meal of the 
croton nut well rubbed down with a little of it, and the 
rest cautiously added ; four ounces of this mixture may 
be given every six hours until it operates. 

In all ordinary cases of Staggers, simply opening the 



STAGGERS. 35 

bowels, or a moderate bleeding, will effect a cure ; and if 
the animal shows symptoms of a disordered stomach, the 
coming disorder may be warded off by a dose of physic. 

If there is great depression of the system, blood let- 
ting should be abstained from ; but if the pulse is strong, 
and fever or inflammation is denoted, and the animal 
appears phrenetic, bleeding is indispensable. 

If the stomach is over distended, it may not be pru- 
dent to give the strongest purgative, although some 
recommend it ; there is danger when the stomach is 
over loaded, that the strongest purgative may not find 
its way through, and a commotion might be produced, 
that might rupture the intestines, or result in inflam- 
mation. If the purgative is not given, recourse must 
be had to medicines that lessens the force of the circu- 
lation and consequently, the determination of blood to 
the head — the following is the best for that purpose ; 

Recipe No. 31. 

Digitalis, .... one drachm. 
Tartar emetic, . . . one drachm. 
Nitre, ..... three drachms. 

Given two or three times a day if necessary, or until 
ease is produced. The horse should be kept from food 
when laboring under these symptoms ; and mashes, or 
green food given for sometime after. It would be better 
to turn him out to grass. 

It may be necessary to give the purgative, and also 
to give an injection of warm soap and water, and to rake 
out the hardened dung. 

If aloes have been given, and have not operated suf- 
ficiently, better not repeat them; but give in their stead 
the following, every six hours until the bowels are pro- 
perly opened. 



36 horseman's companion. 

Recipe No. 32. 

Linseed oil> . ., . one pint. 

Gentian, . . . two drachms. 

When the physic operates, the following may be given 
if the horse has been suffering from indigestion : 

Recipe No. 33. 

ALTERATIVE TONIC BALL. 

Sulphur, . . . one drachm and a half. 

Physic mass, . . one drachm. 

Powdered nitre, . . one drachm and a half. 

Powdered gentian, . . one drachm and a half. 

Powdered ginger, . . one drachm. 
Beat them together with palm oil, and make one ball ; 
it may be best to repeat this once a day for several 
days. 

An author of experience recommends — if the horse is 
outrageous, he should be bled, and the following given : 

Recipe No. 34. 

Tincture of opium, . . one ounce. 

Syrup of poppies, . . one gill. 

Tincture guaiacum, . . one ounce. 

Be careful not to let him knock his head, for it will in- 
crease the disorder. If he get through the first fit, give 
him two ounces of crocus metallorum every day, to thin his 
blood, for fear of a relapse. It will be proper to give the 
following ball once a month for some time after : wfll 

Recipe No. 35. 

Powdered rhubarb, . . one ounce. 

Jalap, half ounce. 

Calomel, ..... one drachm. 
To be made into a ball with syrup of buckthorn. This 
ball will be of great use in thinning the blood, and pre- 



LOCKED-JAW. 37 

venting a return of the disorder • for when a horse has 
had one fit, he is very likely to have another, if care be 
not taken to prevent it. 

There are two other diseases with which the Staggers 
may be confounded, and from both of them it may be 
readily distinguished, viz.: colic and madness [hydropho- 
bia]. In colic the horse rises and falls, but not with so 
much violence ; he sometimes plunges, but he more often 
rolls himself about; he looks frequently at his flanks 
with an expression of pain, and he is conscious. 

In madness there may be violence, there is sometimes 
a determination to do mischief, and there is always con- 
sciousness. 



LOCKED-JAW. 

This is one of the most fatal diseases to which the 
horse is liable. It is a constant spasm of all the volun- 
tary muscles, and particularly of the neck, the spine, 
and the head. But the muscles of the jaw appear the 
most powerfully affected. If a small fiber of some nerve 
has been injured, the effect of that injury will sometimes 
spread to the origin of the nerve, and the brain will be- 
come affected, and the whole action of the horse becomes 
diseased. 

Locked-jaw will come from exposure to severe cold, 
after being over-heated ; but it oftenest comes from a 
wound of some tendonous or ligamentous part. It is 
sometimes slow and very treacherous in its attack, and 
may not show itself until the wound is quite or nearly 
healed. It sometimes follows nicking or docking, 
whether well or ill performed, and it sometimes results 
from pricking the foot when being shod. 



38 horseman's companion. 

In treating this disorder, it is well to find out the 
local cause. If it be a wound of the foot, let it be 
touched with a caustic, or well opened ; the new irrita- 
tion thus produced may lessen or remove the old one. 
The wound may be dressed with some healing ointment 
or the following mild caustic wash : 

Itecipe No. 36. 

MILD CAUSTIC WASH FOR WOUNDS. 

Blue vitriol, powdered, . one ounce. 
Dissolved in a pint of water. 

If there is any offensive discharge from the wound, 
the following may be applied : 

Recipe No. 2>7* 
SOLUTION OP CHLORIDE OF LIME. 

Chloride of lime in powder, . one drachm. 
Dissolve it in a pint of water. 

Bottle, and keep it stopped when not in use. 

If nicking is the cause of the disorder, the incision 
should be made deeper and stimulated by digestive oint- 
ment, or the above wash, No. 36 ; or, if it arise from 
docking, repeat the operation higher. 

I will mention, that sometimes before the jaws are 
entirely closed, and while medicine may be given with 
tolerable ease, some, if not all, of the following symp- 
toms may be observed : A stiffness of the jaws and neck, 
and the muscles hard and unyielding; the retractor 
muscle is affected, and the eye is drawn back, and the 
haw or washer protruding over a portion of it; and 
soon the ears and tail are erect, and the whole extreme- 



LOCKED-JAW. 39 

ties become singularly and almost immovably fixed ; the 
breathing is hard, and the countenance expressive of 
great agony. 

In 1842, I remember being called to do something for 
a horse that had a nail run through the sole of his foot 
near the frog. The injury had been done several weeks, 
and others had been "doctoring it," until the symptoms 
just mentioned appeared. I found the horse in a suf- 
fering, pitiable condition, He was so very stiff that it 
required the assistance of several persons to keep him 
from falling, if they attempted to move him to either 
side, or to raise up his foot. The orifice was closed, and 
the poisonous matter was corroding the inside of the 
foot. The first thing I did was to cut away as much 
of the sole as would enable me to get at every part of 
the inside of the foot that had been affected — which 
proved to be about one-third — which I removed with the 
knife, and made what is called "a new wound." The 
wound was dressed, the horse was bled, and a relaxation 
of the spasm soon followed — and the horse recovered. 
I believe the recovery of the horse just mentioned was 
owing, more than from any thing else, to the removal of 
the cause that produced the disorder. 

It is not always that the disorder can be treated so 
successfully, even in its early stages, and frequently de- 
fies every effort to give relief. When the disorder 
assumes this obstinate form, the animal must be bled 
copiously, unless he is in very low condition, when so 
much blood must not be taken. Chloroform should be 
applied to the nose, and the horse blistered along the 
whole of the spine; and heavy rugs, or what is better, 
sheepskins, warm from the animal, with the raw side in- 
ward, and changed as soon as they become dry or putrid; 



40 horseman's companion. 

they may be kept on twenty-four hours, if they are 
changed sides every few hours. 

If the jaws are entirely locked, the foregoing treat- 
ment will probably produce a temporary relaxation of 
the spasm, so that a dose of physic may be given. Here 
also, that physic is best which will operate the quickest. 
The bowels, in these nervous affections, are very torpid, 
and there is very little danger of injury from a large 
dose of physic. The croton is the best for this purpose : 
half a drachm, powdered, for the^first dose, and repeated 
in doses of ten grains, every six hours, until it operates. 
The operation of the, physic maybe assisted by injec- 
jections, each containing a drachm of aloes dissolved in 
warm water; or warm water or thin gruel may be in- 
jected. The reader had better turn back a few pages, 
and see the strong physic drink recommended for Stag- 
gers, (Recipe No. 30,) and use that if it is at hand. 
The following ointment may be used for blistering. 

Recipe No. 39. 

BLISTERING OINTMENT. 

Spanish flies, powdered, . five drachms. 
Turpentine, . . . one ounce. 

Hog's lard, . . . four ounces. 

Mix well, and blister along the whole course of the 
back and spine. After bleeding, physicing and blister- 
ing, and the spasm has not broken, we must resort to 
other means. Give 

Recipe No. 40. 

Opium, powdered, . . two drachms. 

Give in a small ball, or with thin gruel, and give an 
additional drachm every four or six hours; if the jaws 



COLIC. 41 

are quite fixed, it must be injected. The bowels may be 
kept in a lax state by small doses of aloes, during the 
effect of the opium. Great patience and perseverance is 
necessary in treating this disorder. 



COLIC 

Arises from various causes : from violent exercise 
soon after overloading the stomach ; from drinking cold 
water when overheated, or immediately after a large 
feed ; the food is carried into the intestines before it is 
sufficiently elaborated in the stomach ; the inordinate 
action thus produced, expels the mucous secretion that 
is designed for their defense — the swallowing of food too 
eagerly and without due mastication. The change of 
food, the bad quality of food, may have as great an affect 
in producing colic as the facility possessed by the food 
itself for passing rapidly into fermentation. 

There is another kind of colic, which I will speak of 
directly, and which is necessary to be distinguished from 
this, namely : the inflammatory colic, which is brought 
on by the same causes, more severely incurred, as well 
as from severe costiveness, which is so often produced 
by impaired digestive organs. 

As the treatment proper for either of these disorders 
will vary, the one requiring warmth and stimulation, the 
other a cooling and reducing treatment, the great object 
is to find out the cause and nature of the attack, for a 
mistake on this point might prove fatal. In order to 
assist the practitioner to distinguish between these two 
apparently similar disorders, I will insert a table of the 
symptoms ; this table was prepared by Mr. Ryding many 
4 



42 



HORSEMAN'S COMPANION. 



years ago, and other authors have inserted it with some 
alteration, by no means for the better ; it is here given 
with a very slight alteration. 

A TABLE for distinguishing between the colic or gripes, 
and inflammation of the bowels, by the symptoms that 
mark the character of each. 



SPASMODIC OR FLATULENT COLIC. 

1. Pulse natural, though some- 

times a little lower. 

2. The horse lies down, and 

rolls upon his back. 

3. The legs and ears generally 

warm. 

4. Attacks suddenly, is never 

preceded, and seldom ac- 
companied by any symp- 
toms of fever. 

5. There are frequent short 

intermissions. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 

1. Pulse very quick and small. 

2. He lies down and suddenly 

gets up again, seldom roll- 
ing upon his back. 

3. Legs and ears generally 
cold. 

In general, attacks gradual- 
ly, is commonly preceded, 
and always accompanied 
by symptoms of fever. 

No intermissions can be 
observed. 



When horses are in health, the pulsations are from 
thirty-sis to forty in a minute ; to ascertain this, apply 
the points of the fingers gently to the arteries nearest 
the surface. Some prefer to feel the artery inside the 
fore leg, above the knee, and some prefer the artery 
under the jaw; too great pressure would stop the pulsa- 
tion altogether, though by slightly pressing the artery 
against the bone, you can ascertain whether it be in 
such a rigid state of excitement as to denote high fever. 

When the pulse reaches fifty or fifty-five, some degree 
of fever may be apprehended, and proper precaution 
should be taken. Seventy or seventy-five will indicate 
a somewhat dangerous state ; few horses long survive a 



colic. 43 

pulse of one hundred, for by this excessive action the 
energies of nature are speedily worn out. A quick 
pulse indicates fever or inflammation, and requires the 
immediate and free use of the lancet. A slow, weak 
pulse, is caused by the feeble action of the heart ; it is 
expressive of debility, and deficiency of nervous energy ; 
it is the reverse of high fever and inflammation, and the 
lancet, if used at all, must be used with great caution. 

An easy way, also, to discover inflammation is, to put 
your hand to the nostrils, and ascertain if his breath 
is hot. 

In ordinary colic, and where inflammation has not 
set in, give the following : 

Recipe No. 41. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. I. 

Ginger, . . . one tablespoonful. 

Saleratus, . . . one tablespoonful. 

Peppermint, . . one teaspoonful. 

Warm water, . . one pint. 

I will give several recipes, so that you can give either 
one of them according to circumstances. 

The following drink will frequently give relief in a 
short time; 

Recipe No. 42. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. II. 

Ether, (sulph.) . . . one ounce. 
Laudanum, .... one ounce. 
Spirits turpentine, . . two ounces. 

Mix, and give with warm water. 

If relief is not obtained in a short time, it may be 
better to bleed ; because the continuance of violent 



44 

spasms may produce inflammation. If three-quarters or 
an hour should pass, and the horse is not easier, the 
dose may be repeated without the turpentine, or with 
half the quantity, and three or four drachms of ether 
added. In a clear case of colic, sometimes about half 
the last-mentioned drink is repeated, with five or six 
drachms of aloes dissolved in warm water. The stimu- 
lus produced on the inner surface of the bowels, by the 
purgative, may counteract the irritation which caused 
the spasm. The belly should be well rubbed ; and 
clysters of warm soap suds, or a solution of aloes, must 
be injected with a large syringe, or an ox bladder tied 
on the end of a pipe. The horse should also be back- 
raked ; a small hand — the fingers brought to a point, 
and dipped in lard or oil — should be gently introduced 
into the rectum, and remove any hardened dung that 
may be lodged therein. Sometimes the hardened dung 
lodges, and presses on the neck of the bladder, and 
obstructs the passage of the urine, which causes great 
pain, and has been mistaken for the colic. 

This is also one of the best drinks that can be given : 

Recipe No. 43. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. III. 

Laudanum, . . . one ounce. 
Tincture of Cayenne pepper, one ounce and a-half. 
Tincture of camphor, . two ounces. 
Good whisky, . . . one quart. 

Mix well, and give one gill every half hour, until 
relief is obtained. 

If your horse is taken out on the road, away from 
home, and where you can not get, at all times, what 



colic. 45 

you want, you may be able to get the following, which 
will often cure, if given in time : 

Recipe No. 44. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. IV. 

Gin or brandy, . . half pint. 

Pepper, .^ . one or two tablespoonsful. 

Milk or warm water, . half pint. 

Mix. Should relief not be obtained in twenty or 
thirty minutes, the dose can be repeated two or three 
times. 

Another drink that can be obtained at almost every 
place, is — 

Recipe No. 45. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. V. 

Whisky, . . half pint to a pint. 
G-unpowder, . . half or two-thirds teacupful. 

Mix well. 

This drink sometimes gives relief in a short time, if 
given early. 

Salt is efficacious as an aperient, and may be thrown 
up the rectum, or given as a drink. It sometimes cures 
the worst cases of colic in a short time. 

Recipe No. 46. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. VI. 

Take common table salt one pint, and dissolve in a 
pint of hot water, and give half at one dose, and if re- 
ief does not soon follow, repeat the dose; some add 
vinegar to the salt and water, and insist that it makes 
the best colic drink they ever tried; but I do not like the 
vinegar if there is the appearance of gas in the stomach. 



46 horseman's companion. 

This disorder is very rapid in running its course, and 
often ends fatally; and, therefore, something should be 
done immediately to relieve the animal. It is for that 
reason that I have given such a variety of recipes. 

In large establishments, where many horses are kept, 
and where such a medicine is so often required, the 
following will be found a first-rate medicine, and should 
be kept on hand : 

Recipe No. 47. 

COLIC DRINK, NO. VII. 

Take brandy, . . . one quart. 

Sweet spirits of nitre, •. . four ounces. 

Cloves, (powdered,) . . three ounces. 

Ginger, (powdered,) . . four ounces. 

Steep the ginger and cloves in the brandy and nitre, 
and add about one teaspoonful of the oil of peppermint, 
bottle and let it stand a week, and it will be fit for use. 
The dose will be from four to six ounces in a pint and 
a half of warm water, and repeated in twenty or thirty 
minutes if the first does not give relief. If you buy the 
ginger and cloves and powder or bruise them yourself, 
you will be sure to have them good; the liquor must be 
poured off if they are only bruised. ' 

I will here caution the reader against giving too many 
different kinds of medicine for any disease, before they 
give the first time enough to do any good; much injury 
has been done by this. 



INFLAMMATORY COLIC. 

This is sometimes called red colic, "strangullion," 
or "twisting of the guts," and is often treated as the 



INFLAMMATORY COLIC. 47 

common colic. It is brought on from the same causes, 
more severely incurred, as well as from severe cold in 
the bowels, or costiveness and consequent heat, termi- 
nating in inflammation of the bowels, as does the spas- 
modic colic also, if not arrested. Sometimes pieces of 
dung, or excrement, in passing through the guts, becomes 
hard from an excessive degree of dryness or heat in the 
system; whence it comes to pass that the space of the 
gut where it rests is stretched and enlarged, which causes 
a narrowness or stricture of the adjacent parts, so that the 
excrement can not pass along ; this causes inflammation, 
and the horse, if not soon relieved by cooling and relax- 
ing medicines, dies of mortification in such part. 

It is, therefore, very necessary to discriminate be- 
tween those two kinds of colic, which' may be best done 
by turning back to page 42, where I have laid down a 
table and accompanying remarks; but I will say, in 
addition to the symptoms there laid down to distinguish 
between common and inflammatory colic: the latter is 
attended with cold ears and legs, the breath hot, eye- 
lids and membrane of the nose high colored, the belly 
painful, (to the touch,) and continuing without remis- 
sion, the pulse being quick and irregular. The treat- 
ment should be, bleeding plentifully, and injections of 
thin gruel or soap suds should be given as I have des- 
cribed at page 44. They should be thrown up plenti- 
fully, and if there be any hardened dung, it should be 
removed by a small hand, as there laid down. A pint, 
or a pint and a half of linseed or sweet oil may be given 
inwardly to relax the intestines, and oil given by way 
of clysters will be of use in this case; the horse should 
also be encouraged to drink plentifully of warm water or 
thin gruel. 



48 horseman's companion. 

Recipe No. 48. 

DRINK FOR INFLAMMATORY COLIC. 

Caraway seeds, powdered, two drachms. 
Slippery elm, powdered, . six drachms. 
Digitalis, powdered, . . two drachms. 
Gil peppermint, . . . fifty drops. 
Mix well in a quart of hot water, and divide into two 
doses ; if the first does not give relief in half an hour, 
give the other half. 

If there is evident costiveness, the following may be 
preferred : 

Recipe No. 49. 

DRINK FOR INFLAMMATORY COLIC, 

Linseed oil, . . . half pint. 
Digitalis, powdered, . . one draehm. 
Sweet spirits of nitre, . three drachms. 

G-rains of Paradise, powd., one drachm. 
Mix well in half pint warm water. 

If there is any delay in obtaining either of the above 
drinks, give the oil as above directed, and do not omit 
the injections. The following will also be found an ex- 
cellent medicine, and should be kept on hand : 

Recipe No. 50. 

COLIC DRINK. 

Ginger, . . . .six drachms. 

Caraway seeds in powder, five drachms. 

Jamaica pepper, powdered, one ounce. 

Purified opium, . . three drachms. 

Syrup of poppy, strong, three ounces. 
Mix in the opium with the warm syrup, and add the 
three powders; divide into five or six doses, and give 
with a little warm water. 



MOLTEN GREASE — YELLOWS. 49 

In very severe attacks, you must get up a counter- 
irritation by blistering over the belly. Cantharides, 
spirits of wine, or turpentine, alone or mixed together, 
will, if well rubbed in, aid in bringing the heat to the 
surface. The horse should also have a blanket or rug 
thrown on him to aid in this matter ; the legs should 
also be bandaged to restore the circulation to them. 
Bo not put your horse to work too quick after a severe 
attack, but give soft, nourishing food, and some little 
time to recover his strength. 



MOLTEN GREASE. 

Some writers contend that the fat of a horse is some- 
times melted (or is molten), and penetrates or passes 
into the guts, and comes out through the regular chan- 
nel. I think it impossible, notwithstanding the addi- 
tional testimony of the memorable Falstaff, who said he 
was so fat he " pissed his own tallow!" My opinion is, 
it belongs to one of the disorders last mentioned, colic 
or inflammation, in one of their forms, and should be 
treated as such. In extreme costiveness, the excrement 
is obstructed in its passage, it becomes hard, and a por- 
tion of the mucous secretions that is designed for the 
defense of the intestines, is expelled with the hardened 
dung, which gives rise to the name — molten grease. 



YELLOWS, OR JAUNDICE 

Is the introduction of bile into the general circula- 
tion, which is usually caused by some obstruction in the 



60 horseman's companion. 

ducts or tubes which convey the bile from the liver to 
the intestines. It is generally recognized by the fre- 
quent and feeble pulse, the yellowness of the eyes and 
mouth, high color of the urine, disinclination to eat, and 
a kind of drooping inactivity. It is first necessary to 
inquire whether this affection of the liver be not the 
consequence of the sympathy of this organ with some 
other part; for, to a very considerable degree, it fre- 
quently accompanies inflammation of the bowels and 
the lungs. These diseases being subdued, jaundice will 
disappear. If there be no other disease to any great 
extent, we must endeavor to restore the natural passage 
of the bile by purgatives, not large doses, lest there 
should be some undetected inflammation of the lungs or 
bowels, in either of which a strong purgative would be 
dangerous, but given in small quantities, repeated at 
short intervals, until the bowels are freely opened; and 
as calomel acts more immediately on the liver, give it 
in the following form : 

Recipe No. 51. 

Barbadoes aloes, . . eight drachms. 
Calomel, . . . two drachms. 

Oil of Carraway, . . half drachm. 

Made into three balls, give one on three successive 
nights, unless the first two produce a thin stool. If the 
animal is fat, and the pulse strong and full, moderate 
bleeding may do good ; but on the other hand, if in bad 
condition, and the pulse very feeble, which indicates low 
fever and debility, blood should not be taken ; in the 
latter case, the following alterative may be given, instead 
of Recipe No. 51, particularly if the dung is loose or 
pale • 



INFLAMMATION OP THE KIDNEYS. 51 

Recipe No. 52. 

ALTERATIVE BALLS. 

Tartar emetic, . . three drachms. 

Ginger, .... one drachm. 

Aloes, .... nine drachms. 

Hard soap, . . . one ounce. 

Mix, and divide into three balls, and give one each, 
successive night, unless the first two have operated. 
The following cleansing powders may then be given : 

Recipe No. 53. 

CLEANSING POWDERS. 

Fenugreek, . . . four ounces 

Black antimony, 



two ounces, 
two ounces, 
two ounces, 
two ounces, 
two ounces. 



Juniper berries, 
Ginger, 
Rhubarb, . 
Sulphur, 

Grind them fine, and mix well, and give a table- 
spoonful once or twice a day till cured. Do not expose 
him to wet or bad weather ; nor let him drink cold 
water for a few hours after taking the powders. This 
powder gives a good appetite, and fine coat, and life to 
the animal, when he is out of condition, or hidebound, 
as is often the case when suffering from distemper, cold, 
and other lingering disorders that arise from impurity 
of the blood. 



INFLAMMATION OP THE KIDNEYS. 

This disorder is sometimes brought on by other 
diseases, or by a hard blow across the loins, catching 



52 houseman's companion. 

cold when hot, or violent exercise beyond their power. 
When the kidneys become inflamed, they secrete or 
suppress more urine than in a state of health ; but it is 
performed with great pain and danger. The early symp- 
toms are those of fever generally. The horse looks 
round at his flanks ; his hind legs wide apart; expresses 
pain in turning ; shrinks when the loins are pressed, 
and some degree of heat is felt there. The urine is 
voided in small quantities, and often high colored, and 
sometimes bloody. The attempt to urinate becomes 
more frequent, and the quantity voided smaller, until 
the animal strains painfully and violently, but the dis- 
charge is nearly or quite suppressed. In the early 
stages, and when there is much fever, you must bleed 
pretty freely, and give the following : 

Recipe No. 54. 

Aloes, .... three drachms. 

Gentian, (powdered,) . two drachms. 

Digitalis, (powdered,) . one drachm. 

Oil of juniper, . . one drachm , 

Mix well, and add the yolk of an egg, and give at 
one dose. 

If the symptoms do not abate, rub over the loins the 
following stimulant : 

Recipe No. 55. 

EMBROCATION. 

Spirits of wine, . . . two ounces. 
Camphor, .... one ounce. 
Soap, ..... two ounces. 

Mix. If this disorder continues, it is likely to pro- 
duce an irritation, or 



DISORDER OF THE BLADDER. 53 

DISORDER OF THE BLADDER, OR URINARY 
ORGANS GENERALLY. 

The urine is constantly flowing from th,e kidneys 
through a large duct, called the ureter, to a larger 
reservoir, the bladder. The bladder is, therefore, the 
vehicle or outlet for several evils that take their rise 
higher up; and among these I have just spoken of 
suppression, or bloody urine, as a disorder of the kid- 
neys, which the reader will examine before he goes any 
further. 

Sometimes, however, there may be stoppage of the 
urine, when you can not immediately determine the 
cause, and something must be done to give relief; bathe 
under the belly with warm water or soap suds, and clean 
out the end of the yard or " penis." Sometimes there 
is a hard substance as large as a bean lodging in the 
end of the penis, and obstructs the passage of the 
water. If the water does not come from the last-named 
treatment, recourse must be had to diuretics, but they 
must be used with caution, and not pushed too far. 

Recipe No. 56. 

DIURETIC DRENCH. 

Nitre, . . . four to six drachms. 
Oil of juniper, . . two drachms. 
Turpentine, . . two drachms. 

You may give half a pint or more of gin, in place of 
the turpentine, or give a little along with it, as you may 
think best. I have given in desperate cases (where the 
horse was in intense agony from the stoppage of urine), 
as high as two ounces of nitre ; but, as I have just in- 
timated, diuretics should not be given too often, nor in 



54 horseman's companion. 

too large doses, particularly if there are symptoms of 
inflammation of the kidneys, as described a few pages 
back. 

Bloody urine, calculi or stone, strangury, diabetes or 
excessive discharge of urine, suppression of urine, etc., 
have, by the ingenuity of some very scientific doctors, 
been subdivided and treated of as though they were 
diseases of themselves ; but few, if any, are original, but 
arise from some defect or ill-cured disorder of the kid- 
neys and bladder, or parts dependent thereon. 



SCOURING, AND OTHER DISORDERS OF 
THE INTESTINES, 

Sometimes comes from bad water, green food, or food 
that is not good; in either case, it should not be checked 
too suddenly, but rather promoted by an open diet, as 
bran mashes ; for nature, by this means, may get rid of 
some offensive matter that might produce disease. If it 
does not stop in due time after a change of diet, give 
plenty of starch or arrow-root ; should it still continue, 
or if the scouring is produced by the too free use of 
purgative medicines, the starch and arrow-root may still 
be given, and also the following : 

Recipe No. 57. 

ASTRINGENT DRINK. 

Opium, powdered, . . two drachms. 

Catechu, powdered, . . two drachms. 

Ginger, powdered, . . two drachms. 

Prepared chalk, . . four drachms. 

Well mixed together, and add half a pint of thin gruel. 



COSTIVENESS. 55 

If the purging does not abate in ten or twelve tours, 
repeat the dose. Sometimes, when every thing else 
fails, the following will stop it : 

Recipe No. 5S. 

Powdered alum . . two drachms. 
Hot milk, . . . one pint. 
Mix well and give warm. 



COSTIVENESS. 



I have already considered costiveness as belonging 
to colic and other inflammatory disorders of the intes- 
tines, as the reader will see by referring back to what 
is there said. Common costiveness may be distin- 
guished from colic or inflammation of the intestines by 
the quiet state of the animal when he is down, which 
is not the case with either of those disorders, in which 
pain of the bowels is most evident. There is also a 
dullness about the eyes, and sleepiness ; the breathing 
becomes difficult or nearly imperceptible ; at length he 
tumbles down, regardless of his situation, until stupor 
and death ensue, if the sufferer be not relieved. 

It is not always best to give strong purgatives if cos- 
tiveness has lasted sometime; great injury might be 
done to the small intestines by forcing a passage, where- 
by a commotion might be raised in the stomach, and the 
medicine act inefficiently where the evil chiefly lies, viz. : 
in the large intestines and rectum. When the animal 
has not dunged for several days, there is a fullness 
about the flanks and fundament, and an unusual dry- 
ness and tightness is discovered at this latter part, and 
back-raking must be resorted to: the arm should be 



56 horseman's companion. 

stripped bare, the hand dipped in oil or lard, bring 
the fingers to a point, and gently introduce the hand 
and wrist, and draw out the dry, hardened dung. Re- 
peat this two or three times, and give plenty of warm 
gruel, ale, or porter, or a pint or quart of each while 
the following is preparing. 

Recipe No. 59. 

LAXATIVE DRENCH. 

Linseed or castor oil, . . half a pint. 

Prepared kali, . . . two drachms. 

Aloes, .... two drachms. 

Water gruel, . . . one pint. 

This may be repeated next day, without the oil, and 
doubling the quantity of aloes. After this, if you think 
it necessary, you can give a stronger purgative, as the 
following : 

Recipe No. 60. 

PURGATIVE. 

Barbadoes aloes, . six or eight drachms. 
Oil of caraway, . ten drops. 

With enough mucilage for one ball, or it may be 
given as a drench ; whenever balls are too large, they 
must be divided, and given in smaller doses. 



DISTEMPER, OR CATARRH. 

If your horse has the distemper, burn some tar under 
his nose, and let the smoke get into his nostrils plenti- 
fully; it will cause it to break and discharge freely, and 
in most cases, with proper care, the animal will soon be 



A COLD. 57 

well ; but should the discharge not stop in due time, 
give the following powder : 

Recipe No. 61. 

POWDER. 

Fenugreek, . . . half pound. 



half pound, 
half pound, 
half pound, 
four ounces. 



Blue vitriol, 
Alum, 
Rosin, 
Ginger, 

Grind all fine, and give a tablespoonful two or three 
times a day ; this powder is good for all discharges 
from the nose that are not glanderous, and may be 
used in place of Recipe No. 28. The reader had better 
turn back and see what is said under the heading, na- 
sal gleet. (See Index.) 



A COLD. 



This is very common, and often too much neglected. 
Horses are more apt to take cold after the shedding of 
their coat, or by being worked hard and over-heated, 
and suffered to stand in, or be otherwise exposed to 
cold, disagreeable weather. If the owners of horses 
would consider, that chronic cough, broken wind, con- 
sumption, heaves, inflammation of the lungs, or lung 
fever, etc., are attributable to severe or neglected cold, 
they would perhaps pay more attention to it than they 
generally do. 

The symptoms of common cold are, a dullness and 
weeping of the eyes, a mucous or watery discharge from 
the nostrils, a swelling about the jaws and ears, and 



58 horseman's companion. 

sometimes a slight cough, a heaving at the flanks and 
loss of appetite. In mild attacks, the cold will soon 
pass off, by clothing him comfortably, and giving a few 
bran mashes, and it may be better to give a tablespoon- 
ful of the following, twice a day with the food, or 
otherwise : 

Recipe No. 62. 

Powdered squills, . . one ounce. 

" liquorice, . . one ounce. 

Ginger, . . . . two ounces. 

If the animal is strong and there are any inflamma- 
tory symptoms, bleeding would do him good. If there 
is much swelling of the glands, a bran poultice may be 
applied, or hot flannels that have been dipped in boil- 
ing water, but the coat should be rubbed dry when 
the flannels come off. 



COUGH 



Sometimes remains after all the other symptoms of 
the last mentioned disorder, have nearly or quite dis- 
appeared ) when that is the case, give the following 
ball: 

Recipe No. 63. 



Assafetida, . 
Liquorice powder, 
Sulphur, 
Turpentine, 



one ounce, 
one ounce, 
half an ounce, 
one ounce 



Mix, and divide into four doses, and give one every 
night for four nights. Let him have moderate exercise, 



COUGH. 59 

and light, cooling diet. If the coughing does not abate, 
after giving the above a fair trial, give the following : 

Recipe No. 64. 

Liquorice powder, . . two drachms. 

Nitre, .... two drachms. 

Digitalis, .... half drachm. 

Tartar emetic, . • . one drachm. 

Made into one or two balls with tar, and give all at 
one dose. 

If there is a tendency to costiveness, the bowels 
should be kept in a proper open state, by a mild laxa- 
tive given for a few days. 

Recipe No. 65. 
LAXATIVE BALL. 

Aloes, . . two or three drachms. 

Ipecacuanha, . one and a-half drachms. 

Mix with liquorice powder for one dose. 

By examining what is here laid down, and what is 
said under the last heading, it is to be hoped that the 
practitioner will succeed. As the cough and accompany- 
ing symptoms disappear, a few doses of the cleansing 
powders (page 51) will assist in improving the animal's 
condition. 



60 horseman's companion. 




INFLAMMATION OP THE LUNGS, OR LUNG 
FEVER. 

Former writers have considered this disorder under 
the heading of pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs ; 
but it is generally known throughout the "West" as 
lung fever. It is brought on by all the causes that 
produce cold, which will be found a few pages back ; 
but the attack, in the present case, is more severe, and, 
probably, at a time when the animal is somewhat out 
of condition, or laboring under the effect of constitu- 
tional debility, and, consequently, less able to withstand 
the severity of the sudden check given to the circula- 
tion. 

The symptoms follow each other rapidly— shivering, 
difficulty of breathing, loss of appetite, and sluggishness, 
quick action of the flanks, as if laboring to force the 
blood through the clogged vessels of the lungs, accom- 
panied by hot mouth, and sometimes a hectic cough. 
The ears and legs become cold ; he stands stiff, and 
cares not to lie down ; or, being down, he rises lan- 
guidly, as if mourning his fate. In the first place, the 
horse must be bled plentifully, which will tend to keep 



LUNG FEVER. 61 

off the inflammation which is so rapidly approaching 
the lungs. Place him out of the wind or current of air, 
but in a place where he can inhale pure air ; and clothe 
him comfortably according to the season. Rub his legs 
well with the hand, or with straw, in order to restore 
the circulation and consequent heat ; and clothe them 
with straw, not tied too tight. There is too much 
sympathy between the lungs and the intestines to give 
strong purgative medicines, but give that medicine 
which will diminish the frequency of the pulse, and 
allay the irritability of the system, and the following 
will be found the best for that purpose : 

Recipe No. 66. 

Tartar emetic, . one and a half drachms. 
Digitalis, (powdered,) one drachm. 
Nitre, . . . three drachms. 

Mix well ; make into a ball with linseed meal for one 
dose. This ball should be given two or three times a 
day, until the worst symptoms begin to disappear. It 
should then be given once or twice a day only. While 
this treatment is going on, great benefit may be derived 
from injections of warm soap suds, and a little salt, 
into the rectum. 

If the animal was previously well kept, and strong, 
or should the pulsation and other inflammatory symp- 
toms increase, sfter the above treatment; the bleeding 
must be repeated — say in eight or ten hours after the 
first bleeding. Though this operation is highly bene- 
ficial at first, when the animal system is in full vigor, 
it is extremely dangerous after the inflammation has 
continued some time. When (the fever continuing) 



62 horseman's companion. 

weakness is indicated by swelling of the legs, or nature 
seeks to relieve itself by a running at the nostrils, it 
should be borne in mind by every practitioner, that 
whenever the animal is found in this feeble, worn-out, 
and exhausted condition, that however necessary it 
might have been to take blood at first, the time has now 
past, and the operation of bleeding would only hasten 
his end. 

In addition to the treatment just laid down, roweling 
between the fore legs and blistering about the breast are 
employed. It is a matter of doubt as to whether the rowel 
would act in time, but early blistering might assist in 
bringing the inflammation from the lungs to the surface; 
for this purpose turpentine and the tincture of Spanish 
flies, or recipe No. 55 may be used. The horse may be 
encouraged to take warm gruel, but not cold water with- 
out spirits of nitre in it; nitre will neutralize the tem- 
perature of the water. 

It is to be hoped that the disease will give way by 
persevering in the treatment laid down ; then he should 
have nourishing food until he regains his strength. In- 
flammatory disorders leave behind them a good share of 
weakness, which may require the aid of medicine to 
restore. The following will assist in restoring the ap- 
petite, and also the power of the digestive organs : 

Recipe No. 67. 
TONIC BALL. 

Chamomile, . . . two drachms. 
Gentian, . . . four drachms. 

Gringer, .... one drachm. 
Make into a ball with palm oil, and give one a day, 
or every other day, as you think it necessary. 



CONSUMPTION. 63 

CONSUMPTION. 

This is generally brought on by some of the diseases 
just mentioned, as severe colds, inflammation of the lungs, 
and other diseases severally incurred, and when the ani- 
mal is yet weak and laboring under the effects of some 
ill-cured disorder he is put to work beyond his power. 
Some horses have weaker constitutions than others, and 
consequently their over-taxed powers will, sooner or later, 
most assuredly give way under these combined influ- 
ences. Narrow or weak chested horses are more liable 
to be attacked by inflammation of the lungs, and it goes 
much harder with them than horses with a deep, full 
chest. The lungs are deficient in bulk according to the 
diminished contents of the chest, and are over-worked 
in supplying the quantity of arterial blood expended in 
the various purposes of life; inflammation of the lungs 
has consequently ensued and acquired an intense char- 
acter, under circumstances by which other or stronger 
horses would be scarcely affected. 

Consumption being generally the effect of some other 
disease, is attended with inflammation in the pleura and 
the lungs, terminating in a suppuration of those parts 
which is ejected at the nostrils, accompanied by a cough 
which increases insensibly. The horse has some appe- 
tite till the disease has come to a certain period, when 
he wastes rapidly. 

Whatever good may be done will depend upon cir- 
cumstances: if you give the animal more work to do 
than he is able to perform with ease, you will only 
hasten his end, for medicine would not save him; but 
if you will give him such light work only as he is able 
to do, he may last some time and be of considerable 



64 

service. Let him have an occasional run at grass, and 
when at work give him nourishing food, remembering 
that he is not able to sustain any great exertion ; if, 
however, you find there is undue excitement, cough, or 
running at the nose, give the following: 

Recipe No, 68* 

» 

Liquorice, (powdered,^ . one drachm. 
Digitalis, . . . . one drachm. 
Nitre, .... three drachms. 

Mix for one dose ; or you may give the following if 
there is much coughing : 

Recipe No* 69* 

Powdered squills, . . one ounce. 

Cream of tartar, . . . one ounce. 
Ginger, .... two ounces. 

Give a tablespoonful once or twice a day in wet bran 
or otherwise. 

For further information, see what is said under the 
heading cough, a few pages back. 



THICK WIND, BROKEN WIND, OR ROARING. 

This disorder is generally brought on by inflamma- 
tion of the organs of respiration ; it consists in short, 
frequent and laborious breathings, and especially when 
the animal is in exercise. A horse laboring under any 
inflammatory affection of the lungs, is thick-winded, 
because the pain which he feels in the act of breathing 
will not permit him to respire deeply, and therefore he 
must breathe quickly. 

Sometimes there is previous inflammation of the 



THICK WIND, BROKEN WIND, OR ROARING. 65 

bronchial passages ; the throwing out of some fluid, 
which is capable of coagulation, is the result ; this de- 
posit in the substance of the lungs, or in the bronchial 
tubes, from inflammation of those organs, must close 
many of the air-cells, and lessen the dimensions of 
others. Then, if the cells, fewer in number and con- 
tracted in size, be left for the purposes of breathing, 
the rapid and laborious action of the lungs must supply 
the deficiency. The examination of thick winded horses 
after death, has thrown some light on the nature of the 
disease. In the majority of instances, some of the 
small air-cells have been found filled up with a dense 
substance of a blue or darker color ; in others, the 
minute passages leading to the cells have been dimin- 
ished, and almost obliterated, the linings of these 
passages being unnaturally thickened or covered with 
hardened mucus ; and where neither of these appear- 
ances could be observed, the lining of the cells has 
exhibited evident marks of inflammation, so that abso- 
lute pain prevented the full expansion or contraction of 
the lungs. 

Thick wind is often the forerunner of broken wind. 
For, if so much labor is necessary to contract the air- 
cells and to force out the wind, and the lungs work so 
rapidly and so violently in effecting this; some of the 
cells, weakened by disease, will probably be ruptured. 

Broken wind may, however, occur without much pre- 
vious disease. If the horse is a gross feeder, and fills 
his stomach with provender that occupies a great bulk, 
and contains little nourishment, the lungs are squeezed 
into a less than natural compass. Let the horse be now 
suddenly and smartly exercised, more blood must be 
purified, and in the violent effort to accomplish this, 
6 



66 horseman's companion. 

some of the air-cells give way. Therefore, we do not 
find broken-winded horses on the race-course, for al- 
though every exertion of speed is required from them, 
their food lies in a small compass, and the stomach is 
not distended, and the lungs have room to play, and 
care is taken that their exertion shall be required when 
the stomach is nearly empty. 

This disease depends as much upon the cramped 
state of the lungs, from the pressure of an over-gorged 
stomach in the ordinary state of the animal, as on the 
effects of over exertion. Horses that eat their litter, 
and what other hard substances they come near, are 
similarly predisposed to broken wind, namely: by the 
great distension of the stomach and inability of in- 
spiring a sufficient quantity of air to fill the lungs, 
whence the inert cells, or the portion not distended, fill 
up, contract, and become useless, or, upon sudden action 
and over distension, they burst at once. 

The most that can be done for thick or broken-winded 
horses, must be effected by way of management, or as 
it is more generally termed, by regimen. Of course, 
you must avoid exposing the animal to fresh cold, and 
not push him too hard on a full stomach, for it may 
have been by this means, that the malady was brought 
on, therefore, his feeding and exercise must be as much 
as possible, regulated on moderate principles. Bracing 
air, and regular hard meat feeding — broken or sodden — 
and given in small quantities, will do more for the 
horse than physic of any sort. 

When the animal seems to labor much in breathing, 
or the cough is troublesome, give the following : 



HEAVES, THUMPS, PALPITATION. 67 

Recipe No. 70. 

Squills powdered, . . one drachm. 
Gum ammoniacum, . . three drachms. 
Opium, .... one or two drachms. 

With mucilage for one ball. 

If the animal swallows his corn without grinding it, 
as commonly happens, bruised or sodden oats should be 
given, and the bowels discharged by mild purgatives. 

Recipe No. 71. 

MILD PURGATIVE. 

Barbadoes aloes, in fine powder, six drachms. 
G-inger, in fine powder, one drachm. 

Give in the most convenient form, at one dose, and 
let him have small quantities of water at a time, and 
frequently. 



HEAVES— THUMPS— PALPITATION. 

These are only the most popular names, with some 
people, for some of the disorders I have 'treated of — as 
cough, inflammation of the lungs or lung fever, con- 
sumption, broken wind, etc., etc. Horses, whose consti- 
tutions have been weakened by previous or ill-cured dis- 
eases, or whose constitutions are naturally weak, are ex- 
erted beyond their powers, and the result is heaves, 
thumps, palpitation, or other unpleasant symptoms; all 
of which I have endeavored to describe in their proper 
place, as may be found by referring to the internal or 
inflammatory disorders as laid down in this work. 



68 



SCRATCHES. 

One of the causes that produce this disorder, is stand- 
ing in dirty stables, and if it is not soon cured, it may 
terminate in the grease. If the animal is in good keep, 
bleed him ; if there is a tendency to costiveness, give 
from five to eight drachms of aloes, and wash the fet- 
lock joints with warm soap suds, and then with beef 
brine. If a few applications do n't cure, try the follow- 
ing: 

Recipe No. 72. 

Alcohol, . . . half pint. 

Beef brine, . . half pint. 

Urine, . . . half pint, 

Burnt alum, . . one tablespoonful. 

Mix well, and bottle for use, and bathe the parts, after 
washing with Castile soap suds. 



GEEASE 



This disease is brought on by want of proper clean- 
ing, and by washing the horse's legs when they are hot, 
and letting him stand without rubbing them dry, or by 
a bad state of the blood. The symptoms are a swelling 
at the heels, mostly of the hind legs, and soon followed 
by a slight issue of greasy matter, which soon becomes 
offensive. 

Treatment. — If the horse be full of flesh, it might 
be proper to bleed him, and if there are signs of costive- 
ness, he must have a mild purge, and repeated when 
necessary. 



GREASE. 69 

Recipe No. 73. 

PURGATIVE. 

Aloes, . . .six to eight drachms. 
Hard soap, . . two drachms. 
Ginger, . . . two drachms. 

Mix for one dose, and give with warm water, or as a 
ball. The legs should be washed with warm soap suds, 
and with a brush get rid of as much of the running as 
possible, and after drying it well with cloths, use the fol- 
lowing wash : 

Recipe No. 74. 

WASH FOR GREASE. 

Goulard's extract, . . . two ounces. 
Sulphate of zinc, . . two ounces. 

Water, .... one quart. 

Mix and wash the part two or three times a day; or, 
if there is no great inflammation, use the following 
wash: 

Recipe No. 75. 

Alum, .... two ounces. 

Sugar of lead, . . . two ounces. 

Vinegar, .... two ounces, 

Water, .... one pint. 

Mix and use as the above. 

When the disease has lasted a long time, there ap- 
pears scurf and cracks about the heels. When that is 
the case, use the following : 

Recipe No. 76. 

Blue vitriol, . two or three drachms. 
Alum, . . three drachms. 



70 horseman's companion. 

Dissolve them in a pint of water, and use as directed 
above, after the legs have been cleaned. 

When the inflammation has been subdued, and the 
cracks begin to look healthy, use the first wash, No. 74, 
twice a day; or, if that should be too stimulating, use 
the following ointment 

Recipe No. 77.1 
HEALING OINTMENT. 

Lard or palm oil, . . two pounds. 
Rosin, .... half pound. 

Melt them together, and when almost cold, add half a 
pound of calamine powder, well rubbed in. Apply after 
cleaning. 



SURFEIT. 



Gross feeding, as well as the effects of an ill-cured 
disease, will produce what is called surfeit. The skin 
will sometimes be covered with dandruff ; and pimples 
or lumps will appear, and sometimes peel off, or rubbed 
off by the animal, on account of the itching that attends 
them. This disorder is sometimes traced to the immo- 
derate drinking of cold water when the animal was hot. 
It is obstruction of some of the pores of the skin, and 
swelling of the surrounding substance, either from pri- 
mary affection of the skin, or from its sympathy with the 
digestive organs. 

Treatment. — If the pulse is high, he must be bled, 
and give a mild purgative, (see Recipe No. 73.) Should 
moisture be found to discharge from the lumps, wash 
with the following : 



MANGE. 71 

Recipe No. 78. 
SURFEIT WASH. 

Blue vitriol, . . . one ounce. 
Camphor, . . . half an ounce. 

Spirits of wine, . . two ounces. 

Mix in a quart bottle, and fill it with water. Wash 
with warm water and soap first, and rub dry, and apply 
the above wash once a day. Let the diet be cool and 
opening, as scalded bran or sodden oats; and if the 
horse is low in flesh, mix an ounce of fenugreek seeds 
with his food daily, for a fortnight, and see that he has 
moderate exercise. 



MANGE. 



The symptoms and causes of this disorder are partly 
laid down, in the preceding page, for it sometimes fol- 
lows an ill-cured surfeit. But it is, besides, an original 
disease, arising from filthiness, hard living, ill-usage, 
and the consequent depraved state of the system. It 
is contagious, and may be communicated by means of 
the touch, or using the same harness, or standing in 
the same stall that a diseased horse had left. As in 
surfeit, the horse is constantly rubbing and biting 
himself. Great patches of the coat are thus rubbed 
away, and ulceration frequently supplies the places. 
Scabs appear at the roots of the hair of mane and tail, 
large portions whereof fall away. When eruptions 
appear, they form a scurf, which peels off, and it is 
succeeded by fresh eruptions. 

The propriety of bleeding, in cases of mange, must 



72 horseman's companion. 

depend on the condition of the animal. If poverty is 
the cause, and the animal is much debilitated, bleeding 
would be adding power to the cause of the disease ; but 
physic must be used, and mercury seems to have more 
power in this disease than aloes. 

Recipe No. 79. 

Muriate of quicksilver, . one drachm. 

Tartarized antimony, . . one ounce. 

Gringer, (powdered,) . . three ounces. 

Anise seeds, (powdered,) . two ounces. 

Mix into one mass, with mucilage, and divide into 
six balls, and give one every morning until the erup- 
tion disappears. Also use the following : 

Recipe No. 80. 

MANGE OINTMENT. 

Flour of sulphur, . . half pound. 
Train oil or lard, . . one pound. 

White hellebore, (powdered,) three ounces. 

Mix with turpentine enough to make a soft ointment, 
and rub the animal, wherever the eruption and scurf 
appear, with a brush or hair cloths, so as to get rid of 
the loose filth before applying the ointment. Rub it in 
well every other day; or, if the disease is very obstinate, 
you might change sometimes for the surfeit wash, (Re- 
cipe No. 78 ;) and also use the following, instead of con- 
tinuing Recipe No. 79 : 

Recipe No. 81. 
ALTERATIVE FOR MANGE. 

Black antimony, (powdered,) six ounces. 
Grains of paradise, (powdered,) two ounces. 



HIDE-BOUND. 73 

Mix, and add turpentine enough to form the mass, 
and divide into about nine balls, and give one daily, 
while the rubbing is going on. 

Give moderate exercise, and do not expose the animal 
to wet weather. 



HIDE-BOUND. 



This is not properly a disease, but sometimes the 
effect or remains of disease. It is also produced by bad 
digestion, and sometimes by poverty. It is necessary 
to know what brought it on, for the cure is generally a 
contrary treatment to that which produced it. If the 
stomach is empty, as is often the case, give plenty of 
food that is easy of digestion, and use the curry-comb 
and brush plentifully. If it come from other disorders, 
or from impaired digestive organs, let his work be light, 
and give the cleansing powders as directed, (page 51.) 
If very costive, give the following : 

Recipe No. 82. 
PURGATIVE. 

Aloes, .... twelve drachms. 
Hard soap, , . . four drachms. 

Ginger, .... four drachms. 

Mix, and make into three balls, and give one a day, 
until they bring away an easy stool. 

When the practitioner thinks the animal requires a 
strong purge, one-half the above recipe may be given 
at a dose. 

If the hide-bound is caused by worms, give worm 
medicine, which will be found under the next heading. 



74 horseman's companion. 



WORMS 



Worms of different kinds inhabit the intestines, but 
unless they exist in large quantities, they are not so 
hurtful as is generally supposed. The long white worm 
much resembling the common earth-worm, and being 
from six to twelve inches long, inhabits the small intes- 
tines, and if there are many of them, they may consume 
more than can be spared of the nutritive part of the 
food, or the mucus of the bowels. Sometimes there is 
tight skin, rough coat, and tucked up belly, connected 
with their presence. 

There is a smaller, darker colored worm, called the 
needle-worm, inhabits the larger intestines. These are 
a greater nuisance than the former, for they sometimes 
descend into the rectum in large quantities, and cause 
a very troublesome irritation about the fundament, which 
sadly annoys the animal. Physic will sometimes bring 
away great numbers of these worms, but when there is 
mucla irritation about the tail, and much of this mucus 
indicating that they have descended into the rectum, 
an injection of a pint and a half of linseed oil, or of an 
ounce of aloes dissolved in warm water, will be a more 
effectual remedy; in the absence of oil or aloes, use 
plenty of strong soap suds. If you find it necessary to 
give internal medicines, the following will be as safe as 
any to be effectual. 

Recipe No. 83. 

Calomel, . < . one and a half drachms 
Anise seeds, . . two drachms. 
Ginger, . . . three drachms. 



BOTS. 75 

Mix well, and divide into two doses, and give one dose 
at night; if it does not operate well the next day, give 
the other dose at night, and if it does not operate plen- 
tifully by the following morning, give a pint or pint 
and a half of linseed oil. Keep the animal out of the 
wet while the medicine is in him. 



BOTS. 

In the summer, there is what is called the gad-fly, 
seen flying about the horse, and depositing their eggs 
on the hair ; the horse in licking himself touches the 
eggs ; they burst, and a small worm escapes, which, 
sticks to the tongue, and is conveyed with the food to 
the stomach, and it clings, by means of a hook on each 
side of its mouth, to the inside of the stomach, and its 
hold is so firm and so obstinate, that they will some- 
times be broken before they will be detached; they 
have been known to eat through and destroy the horse. 
When the horse is suffering from the bots, he fre- 
quently lies down, and looks round at his side, his 
countenance expressive of great pain, and his upper lip 
is sometimes turned up. Take 

Recipe No. 84. 

Sweet milk, .... one pint. 

Molasses, . . . . one pint. 

And drench the horse, and in half hour after, give 
one quart of warm sage tea, and in three-quarters of an 
hour, give a pint or pint and a half of linseed oil, or 
you can boil the sage and milk together, and sweeten 



76 horseman's companion. 

with molasses, and give at once, and the oil after as 
stated above ; this is generally the best and easiest way 
to get rid of the bots ; but should they require stronger 
medicine, give Recipe No. 83, as recommended in the 
preceding page, for worms. 



MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC. 

Sometimes the distemper assumes a very malignant 
character, the discharges become very offensive, and it 
runs its course with fearful rapidity. When this is the 
case, do not bleed or purge, without there are evident 
inflammatory symptoms, or costiveness. 

Recipe No. 85. 

Gentian, (powdered,) . four drachms. 

Chamomile, . , . two drachms. 

Ginger, .... one drachm. 

Laudanum, . .. . four drachms. 

Mix for one dose, and give as a drink once or twice 
a day, until the worst symptoms disappear, and then give 
the powder (Recipe No. 61.) for distemper. If there is 
any offensive ulcers about the nostrils or other parts of 
the horse, wash them With a solution of the chloride 
of lime — two or three drachms of the lime to one quart 
of water. 



CHEST POUNDER. 



This is a rheumatic affection of the muscles of the 
breast, and much like the rheumatism in man. It is 



BIG HEAD. 77 

sometimes hereditary, and sometimes produced by ex- 
posure in bad weather, and other ill usage. 

Recipe No. 86. 

LINIMENT. 

Take two ounces of gum camphor, and dissolve it in 
half a pint of alcohol, then add four drachms spirits 
of hartshorn, one gill of turpentine, and half pint of 
linseed oil. Mix well, and rub the affected parts. 



BIG HEAD. 



This is a disease of frequent occurrence in the West, 
and it affects the horse in every part of the system \ 
but the jaws seem to be its location, where it produces 
an enlargement. If it is not stopped in time, the horse 
becomes stiff all over, and the large muscles leading 
from the eye to the nostril become perfectly rigid. 

Recipe No. 87. 
STRONG EMBROCATION. 

Aqua ammonia, . . . two ounces. 

Spirits turpentine, . . two ounces. 

Cantharides, (tinct.,) . . two ounces. 

Oil cedar, .... two ounces. 

Mix, and rub on the enlarged part with a brush, and 
heat it in with a hot iron. Do this once a day for 
several days ; and if you find it makes too much of a 
blister, you can stop it by rubbing on lard or oil. 
Give a tablespoonful of saltpetre every second or third 
day. Another remedy is : 



78 

Recipe No. 88. 

Corrosive sublimate, . . one ounce. 

Grum camphor, . . . one ounce. 

Alcohol, .... one pint. 

Origanum, .... one ounce. 

Mix, and when dissolved it is ready for use. Give 
one or two tablespoonsful of sulphur every day; or you 
can take a piece of poke root, about twice the size of 
a hen's egg, put in six quarts of water, and boil down 
to three quarts, and give the horse one pint of it every 
other day as long as it lasts. Mix a pint of fresh 
water with each pint of tea as you give it. This is said 
to be an excellent medicine, and may be given in place 
of the saltpetre or sulphur ; but the enlargement should 
be anointed with one of the mixtures every day, for 
several days, and the animal should be kept out of wet 
weather. 

Another remedy for the big head is as follows : 

Touch the parts most enlarged with aquafortis, and 
let it remain long enough to produce inflammation. If 
too much is applied, and the burning causes too severe 
pain, or is likely to go too deep, it may be stopped 
by applying a little lard or oil. In obstinate cases, a 
second or third application may be necessary, but not 
until the first has healed, and showed evident signs of 
not effecting a cure. It seldom happens, however, that 
a second application is necessary. The aquafortis is 
usually applied, with a feather or sponge, on each side 
of the jaw, and on each side of the face, between the 
eyes and nostrils. 

Another remedy is : To cut through the skin over 
the enlargement. Take four or five grains of white 



STIFF COMPLAINT. 79 

arsenic, in a small piece of paper or muslin, and put it 
all under the skin, and take a stitch, if necessary, to 
keep it in. In a short time the face will swell ; and in 
a few weeks the diseased part around the arsenic will 
slough off, and leave an ugly place. The part may be 
washed, occasionally, with a weak solution of blue 
vitriol — an ounce ; reduce it to a powder, and dissolve 
it in a pint of water. If there is any fungus, a little 
of the powder may be sprinkled over the sore, (see 
Recipes 92, 93.) The arsenic is a severe remedy, and 
should only be applied in extreme cases. 



STIFF COMPLAINT. 

This is another disease known in the Western States, 
and is, by some, attributed to the continual feeding of 
corn ; but I think it may also be brought on by the 
animal being worked hard and over heated, and in this 
condition suffered to stand in, or be otherwise exposed 
to the cold, piercing wind peculiar to the western coun- 
try. It is this sudden check given to the circulation, 
that produces the following most prominent symptoms 
of this disorder, namely: a clogging or obstruction of 
the free passage of the blood, a stoppage of the pores 
of the skin, and consequent paralysis or loss of action. 
The horse is sometimes stiff in one leg, when it will 
suddenly change to the other, and soon, if not relieved, 
will become stiff all over; and thus will these peculiar 
symptoms appear, until the disease seems to settle in 
the joints — particularly the lower joints of the legs, 
which become entirely useless. 



80 horseman's companion. 

Treatment. — ■ The amount of bleeding should he 
regulated according to the strength of the animal; some 
blood, however, should be taken, and the orifice should 
be large, so as to let the clogged blood pass out. In 
the mean time have a tub of warm soap suds ready, and 
the horse in a comfortable place, out of the draught of 
air, and wash him all over, and rub him perfectly dry, 
and clothe him comfortably, according to the weather. 
This operation should be done thoroughly and in good 
earnest ; and it would be best to repeat it, taking care 
to rub dry every time, and to have the suds as hot as 
he can bear. 

Recipe No. 89. 

Oil of sassafras, . . . one ounce. 
Spirits of turpentine, . . one ounce. 
Gin, . . . . . half pint. 

Mix, and give at one dose, and repeat in four or five 
hours unless a free circulation is already produced. This 
having been done, give the following powder: 

Recipe No. 90. 

Madder, . . quarter of a pound. 

Sulphur, . . quarter of a pound. 

Fenugreek, . . quarter of a pound. 

Mix, and give two tablespoonsful twice a day for a 
few days, and then one spoonful once or twice a day, 
until the horse gets a good appetite and fine coat; and 
do not put the horse to work before he has thoroughly 
recovered. 

I will here say, should costiveness appear at any time, 
the other medicine should be withheld until the bowels 
are opened, which may be done by giving six or eight 



POLL EVIL. 81 

drachms of aloes, or Recipe No. 82, and rub the affected 
part with the liniment. Recipe No. 86. 



POLL EVIL. 

This is often caused by bruises about the head, either 
from accident, carelessness, or brutality; and is first dis- 
coverable by inflammation, tenderness, and swelling 
about the poll. As soon as the swelling is discovered, 
and before matter begins to form, it may be dispersed 
or driven back by the following: 

Recipe No. 91. 

Alcohol, . . . . half pint. 

Goulard's extract, . . two drachms. 

Turpentine, . . . two ounces. 

Gum camphor, . . . four drachms. 

Mix, and when dissolved, it is ready for use. Apply 
once or twice a day. If it blisters, grease it with lard 
or oil. 

Another remedy. — Take a small white lead keg, or 
other small vessel open at one end, and put in, say half 
full of soft soap, boiling hot, then tie three or four 
thicknesses of heavy cotton cloth over the open end, and 
turn the keg bottom upward on the poll, and hold it 
there three or four minutes ; three or four applications 
are sufficient. The horse should have a twitch on, and 
a loop over the knee, so that he can not put his foot to 
the ground, or confined in some way while the operation 
is going on. 

If our efforts fail to disperse the swelling, or as soon 
as it is found that matter is beginning to form, we 



82 



should pursue a contrary course to that just laid down, 
and do all we can to hasten the process of ripening. 
Poultices of linseed-meal with an ounce or two of tur- 
pentine added, or any other good poultice should be 
applied, and when the tumor becomes soft, and the prer 
sence of matter is no longer a doubt, it should be imme- 
diately opened. This having been done, the abscess 
should be carefully examined with a probe, and the 
deepest part of it ascertained, and through that a seton 
or rowell should be passed, coming out on the side of the 
neck below the tumor ; this will allow the matter to run 
out as fast as it is formed, and the inside will be kept in 
a healthy state. Setons should be passed in this way 
through every distinct pipe or sinus; make the lower 
opening large and free. The wound should be kept 
clean with warm soap suds, and if it assumes an un- 
healthy appearance, it should be washed with the fol- 
lowing lotion, using a sponge: 

Recipe No. 92. 

MILD CAUSTIC WASH FOR WOUNDS. 

Blue vitriol, powdered, . two ounces, 
Dissolved in a quart of water. 

If fungus or proud flesh spring up, and this wash is 
not strong enough to repress it, the vitriol may be in- 
creased, or a powder may be lightly sprinkled over the 
sore. 

Recipe No. 93* 

CAUSTIC POWDER FOR WOUNDS. 

Sugar of lead,. . . ) equal part8< 

Verdigris, . . .3 

Mix and rub them till they become a fine powder; a 



FISTULA IN THE WITHERS. 83 

little of this powder may be sprinkled over the fungus 
granulations, and the wound may be covered with a 
pledget of tow or lint dipped in the mild caustic wash. 
If costiveness appear, give Recipe No. 82, or six or 
eight drachms of aloes. 



FISTULA IN THE WITHERS. 

This requires the same treatment as the poll evil, and 
the reader will turn back one page, and see the treat- 
ment there laid down. I will add, however, in addition 
to what is there said, that when the swelling first makes 
its appearance, and before any matter is formed, it may 
sometimes be cured by roweling each shoulder just be- 
low the swelling. Keep the parts clean with warm soap 
suds, and wet the rowel with the following stimulating 
liniment once a day, to promote the running : 

Recipe No. 94. 

STIMULATING LINIMENT. 

Origanum, .... four ounces. 
Turpentine, . . . .six ounces. 
G-um camphor, . . . two drachms. 
Linseed oil, . . half pint. 

Mix well, and rub the affected parts with it once or 
twice a day, and move the rowels once or twice a day, 
to encourage the running, and keep them in two weeks 
or longer ; but if there is the appearance of matter 
forming in the swelling, this whole course of treatment 
must be immediately stopped and a contrary treatment 
substituted. Suppuration must be encouraged by warm 



84 horseman's companion. 

fomentations and poultices, and when the tumor is suf- 
ficiently ripe, it should be freely opened, and proceed 
to healing as laid down on page 82 for poll evil. The 
early remedies there prescribed, are also applicable to 
fistula in its first stages. 



WARBLES AND SADDLE GALLS. 

Warbles are small tumors resulting from the pressure 
of the saddle, and when they ulcerate they sometimes 
become sitfasts. 

If it be practicable, the horse should have rest, or, at 
all events, the stuffing of the saddle should be so con- 
trived, that every degree of pressure be removed from 
the part. Warbles and saddle galls will frequently dis- 
appear without medical treatment, or by the application 
of strong salt and water, mixed with a fourth part of 
tincture of myrrh. If they will not disappear by this 
treatment, the same means must be adopted, that are 
recommended for poll evil, namely : at first, try to pre- 
vent the accumulation of matter by repellants, such as 
Becipe No. 91, or apply, in the same manner, the fol- 
lowing : 

Recipe No. 95« 

COLD LOTION. 

Alcohol, .... three ounces. 

Superacetate of lead, . two ounces. 

Vinegar, .... three ounces. 

Water, .... half pint. Mix. 

If these should not succeed, adopt the contrary mode 
of treatment, and bring the tumor forward to suppura- 



SITFASTS, HARD TUMORS, ETC. 85 

tion by poultices, and when sufficiently ripe, open with 
a lancet ; encourage the escape of the offensive matter, 
and proceed to healing the sore as laid down a few pages 
back for poll evil. 



SITFASTS, HARD TUMORS, ETC. 

A sitfast is a hard tumor, that has neither matter nor 
motion in it; and may arise from a gall or bruise, which 
has produced no inflammation, and consequently no 
matter has been engendered. It may also come from 
an ill-cured warble that has closed, leaving a hard, in- 
sensible swelling behind. If they do not yield to the 
treatment just laid down for warbles, etc., the parts be- 
neath must be roused to activity. A strong blister 
should be applied over the part, as Recipe No. 87; or 
the following will effect the same end: 

Recipe No. 96. 

OINTMENT FOR SITFAST. 

Blue ointment, . . six ounces. 

Gum ammoniacum, . three ounces. 

Oil of turpentine, . seven ounces. — Mix. 

In a few days, the sitfast will fall off, or may be sepa- 
rated without difficulty. The wound should be treated 
as a common sore, and should it heal too fast, and proud 
flesh appear, apply the caustic wash or powder, (see 
Recipes 92, 93,) or touch it lightly with lunar caustic. 
This course of treatment is applicable to all hard tumors; 
or at first, they may be taken out with a knife in skill- 
ful hands. 



86 horseman's companion. 



WOUNDS. 



When the skin is much torn from the flesh, and you 
are at hand when the wound is quite fresh, take a needle 
and small waxed thread, and sew it up. Put the needle in 
straight, one side over against the other, draw the skin as 
tight as practicable, (keeping the lips or edges of the 
wound down,) and tie a knot at every stitch, and cut 
the thread off. Let the stitches be three-quarters or an 
inch apart, leaving room for the matter to escape. In 
deep lacerated wounds, it may sometimes be necessary to 
remove a few ragged parts before they are brought to- 
gether ; and they may be of such a nature, or so situated, 
that a light bandage or sticking-plaster may answer the 
place of sewing. Whichever be the case, care should 
be taken that an opening is left in the lowest part of 
the wound for the matter to escape freely. 

The wound should be cleansed from dirt and extra- 
neous matter, and if there is inflammation, cooling poul- 
tices may be applied, but not continued after the inflam- 
mation is subdued and the parts are beginning to look 
healthy. If the wound is healing too fast, and proud 
flesh appear, take. 

Recipe No. 97. 

Red precipitate, . . three drachms. 
Basilicon, . . . one ounce. 

Mix well, and apply part of it to the proud flesh. 
This is also good to apply to wounds that look dull and 
discharge an unhealthy matter. If this is not strong 
enough to subdue the fungus granulation or proud flesh, 
apply Recipe No. 93, and if that is not strong enough, 
touch the parts lightly with lunar caustic, or lay on a 



87 

little corrosive sublimate. Must I repeat, that wounds, 
ulcers, etc., should be kept clean with warm soap suds? 
Castile soap is best for this purpose ; and when ulcers 
are very foul, they may be washed with a solution of 
chloride of lime, say one drachm to a pint of water. 
For further information, see pages 82 and 85. 



VIVES, OR SWELLING OF THE GLANDS, ETC. 

This is a swelling of the glands under the ear toward 
the angle of the jaw. It generally comes from a cold, 
and young horses are more subject to it than old ones. 
In common cases, the cure may be effected by poulticing 
the parts, or fomenting with warm water or marsh-mal- 
lows, and after it has been well dried, clothe the parts to 
keep off the air. In stubborn cases, bleeding is some- 
times necessary, with mild purgatives. But whether we 
bleed or not, it is best to leave open the main road for 
such humors to escape by. To assist nature, however, 
employ the following : 

Recipe No. 98. 

LOTION. 

Subacetate of lead, . . one ounce. 
Salammoniac, . e . half ounce. 
Vinegar, . . . .six ounces. 

Mix, and rub the part well twice a day. 

Low diet, plenty of water gruel and bran mashes, to 
which half an ounce of nitre may be added daily, will re- 
duce the thickened state of the blood, which generally at- 
tends this species of tumor. But, as in poll evil, warbles, 
sitfasts, and other swellings, tumors, etc., (a few pages 



88 horseman's companion. 

back.) it is sometimes found impossible to remove the 
vives by this kind of treatment; that is to say, if it is 
evident that matter is about to form in the tumor, all, 
our labor is rendered vain, as quite a different treat- 
ment must be adopted. The animal must be restored 
to his ordinary diet, and suppuration must be pro- 
moted, and when sufficiently ripe it must be opened; 
bread or linseed meal, with chopped onions, will form a 
good poultice. I have said so much in the last few 
pages about all manner of swellings, tumors, etc., that 
it seems like writing the same thing over again, (see 
poll evil and warbles). If the swelling becomes hard 
it may be blistered, (see sitfasts.) For purgatives, see 
Recipe No. 82. 



SPRAINS, BRUISES, ETC. 

The back, shoulders, legs, etc., are liable to sprains ; 
and they all resemble each other. If the skin is broken, 
you must examine the treatment just kid down under 
the heading, wounds. But when the skin is not broken, 
you must examine whether there is inflammation, and if 
there is, you must apply cold water, or salt and water, 
or the following lotion until the inflammation subsides : 



Recipe No 

Laudanum, . 
Salammoniac, 
Common salt, 
Yinegar, 
Cold water, . 



one ounce, 
one ounce, 
six ounces, 
half pint, 
one quart. 



Mix well and bathe the parts two or three times a 
day. 



SWEENY, SHOULDER JAM, BIG SHOULDER. 



89 



When there is no inflammation, the following will be 
found good as a general liniment for man and beast : 



Recipe No. 100. 

GENERAL LINIMENT. 

Oil origanum, . . . one ounce. 
Gum camphor, . . . one ounce. 
Hartshorn, .... one ounce. 
Laudanum, .... one ounce. 
Turpentine, . . . . one ounce. 
Linseed oil, . . , .six ounces. 

Mix, and add half pint of good soft soap. 
The following is also a good liniment for sprains, 
bruises, etc. 

Recipe No. 101. 

LINIMENT. 

Turpentine, .... half pint. 
Gum camphor, . . . two drachms. 
Vinegar, .... half pint. 
The yolk of three or four eggs. Mix well. 



SWEENY, SHOULDER JAM, BIG SHOULDER. 

For Sweeny rowel just below the affected part, and 
rub well with the strong embrocation, Recipe No. 87 ; if 
it blisters, rub on lard or oil. Move the rowels every 
day, and keep them clean with warm water or soap ; the 
rowels must be kept in for several weeks, or until the 
cure is performed, and occasionally wet with turpentine. 
A friend of mine says, he has tried the following often, 
and knows it to be a good remedy for shoulder jam or 
8 



90 horseman's companion. 

big shoulder. Take soft soap, one quart; turpentine, one 
or two tablespoonsful ; mix well, and rub it in well over 
the parts affected, and in twelve or fifteen hours, apply 
clay over the parts to prevent its blistering ; in about 
twenty-four hours, wash the clay off: and repeat the 
whole operation two or three times, and a cure will be 
effected. The clay must be mixed with water to such a 
consistency that it will stick 



SPAVINS, WIND-GALLS, THOROTJGH-PIN, 
CAPPED HOCKS, CORBS, SPLINTS, RING- 
BONE, BLISTERING. 

When these enlargements seem to contain a fluid or 
wind, as blood spavin, capped hock, or wind-galls, they 
may, if taken in time, be cured by cold discutients, as 
Recipes No. 98 or 99. But, if not -taken at an early 
stage, they will require stronger remedies. It is often 
necessary to blister the parts, or to pass a rowel (seton) 
through the lower part of the enlargement, or make 
small punctures through the skin, which may be done 
by driving^sharp tacks through a thick piece of leather, 
and then tacking the back of the leather to a small block 
of wood to prevent the heads of the tacks from pushing 
back. Apply this to the enlargement and give it a tap, 
but do n't let the ends of the tacks be longer than just 
to go through the skin. When the last-named opera- 
tion, or the seton, is employed, a stimulating liniment 
should be applied at the same time, and the seton wet 
with it once a day to make it discharge freely ; it should 
also be kept clean with warm water and soap. The 
stimulating liniment, Recipe 94 or 100, will answer for 



ROWELS, SETONS. 91 

this purpose. But if you want to use it for blistering, 
it should be stronger, as Recipe 87, 88 or 96. Either of 
the above may be applied when the enlargement becomes 
hard, (callous,) as is often the case with corbs, bone 
spavin, splints, ringbone, etc. The two last-named, 
particularly, require strong blistering, and the reader 
would do well to examine the treatment of sitfasts, big 
head, etc., for in the last several pages back, I have 
treated nearly every variety of enlargement or tumor. 
After the hair is cut off from the part that is to be blis- 
tered, the following ointment may also be applied with 
good effect : 

Recipe No. 3 02. 

Biniodide of mercury, . two drachms. 
Lard, .... two ounces. 

Mix well, and rub about a teaspoonful or less on the 
enlargement, daily, until it blisters ; when you want to 
stop the blistering, wash the parts with warm water and 
soap, and rub on lard or any soft oil. 

Thorough-pin, is an enlargement near the hock, pro- 
jecting on both sides of the leg ; they are generally soft, 
like wind-galls, and should be treated as such. 



ROWELS, SETONS. 



Setons are pieces of tape, passed, by means of a sharp 
instrument or large needle, through abscesses, or the 
base of ulcers with deep pipes (sinuses), or between the 
skin and the muscular or other substance beneath. 
They are retained there by the ends being tied together, 
or by a knot at each end. The tape is moved in the 



92 horseman's companion. 

wound two or three times a day, and occasionally wetted 
with spirits of turpentine, or some stimulating liniment, 
in order to increase the inflammation which it produces, 
or the discharge which is intended to be established. 

In abscesses, such as occur in fistula or poll evil, 
setons should be passed from the top to the very bottom 
of the swelling, for except some orifice be made for the 
matter to flow from the bottom of the wound, it will 
continue to eat deeper into it, and the healing process 
would be very difficult to accomplish. 

To form a rowel, the skin is raised between the finger 
and thumb, and with a sharp knife or lancet, the skin 
is cut through, and about an inch in length, and the 
skin is forcibly separated from the substance beneath, 
until there is a circular cavity two or three inches wide. 
Into this a piece of tow is inserted, sufficient to fill it, 
and previously smeared with turpentine or blister oint- 
ment; this causes considerable inflammation and dis- 
charge. If a little of the tow be left sticking out of 
the incision, the discharge will conveniently dribble 
down it. The tow should be changed every day, with 
or without the ointment, according to the action of the 
rowel or the urgency of the case. 

In horse practice, rowels and setons are, it seems, by 
most people, understood to be the same thing ; it is for 
that reason, that in recommending rowels or setons 
throughout this work, I have mostly written rowels. 
They are intended to produce the same effect — accom- 
plish the same purpose — but setons may be more effectual 
as a general thing, because they can be moved about 
easily in the orifice, to promote the discharge without 
being taken out, while rowels should be renewed every 
day. Care should be taken, that the setons are not 



STMNGHALT. — FRACTURES. 93 

torn out; they should be washed every day with warm 
water and soap. For the removal of hard tumors, as 
sitfasts, bone spavin, splints, etc., a blister is more 
effectual than setons ; but in soft enlargements, as blood 
spavin, wind-galls and thorough-pin, setons may be 
used to advantage. 



STRIETGHALT. 

For this, use Recipe No. 100, twice a day; rub it in 
well. 



FRACTURES. 

When the shank bone or pastern is fractured, the 
first thing to be done, is, to get the horse into the stall 
that he is to remain in, and then the hair should be 
cut close from the part, and the fractured edges brought, 
as gently, and as evenly together as possible, and a 
strong pitch plaster, or any other strong adhesive plas- 
ter, applied well around the part, and over this another 
strong linen bandage may be applied, and then bind on 
splints, before and behind and on each side ; let the 
splints reach a considerable way above and below the 
fracture. If the fracture is near a joint, the hollow 
places should be filled with tow before the splints are 
applied, in order to give them an equal bearing; and 
if these are not sufficiently strong, other, longer and 
stronger splints may be applied over these. A strong 
piece of canvas may be so arranged under the body, 
that the animal can bear a portion of his weight upon 
itj when he is tired of standing; but it is seldom, if 



94 horseman's companion. 

ever, necessary to sling a horse, for he could not sur- 
vive it long. When you are applying the splints, do 
not let any part of the limb sustain undue pressure, so 
as to cause inflammation. The bandage over the frac- 
ture may be occasionally moistened with the cooling 
lotion, Recipe No. 99, and if at any time there is the 
appearance of inflammation, the limb should also be 
bathed freely with cold water. 



MAD DOG BITE, OR HYDROPHOBIA. 

This is a most fearful disorder,' and is caused by the 
bite of a rabid animal, and most frequently the dog. 
The poison of the saliva remains in the wound for an 
uncertain time, varying from three to eight weeks in 
the horse, and then begins to produce its dreadful effects 
on the system. The attack is generally sudden ; the 
animal may be at his usual work, when he will sud- 
denly stop, tremble, stagger and sometimes fall. This 
should not be mistaken for the staggers, because the 
animal is sensible of what is going on, wliich is not the 
case in staggers, (megrims.) The horse should be led 
home as soon as possible, and secured, so that he can 
not do mischief, for the progress of the disease is very 
rapid, as a writer says: "Sometimes a state of the 
highest excitation speedily ensues. The horse kicks 
and plunges in the most violent manner, attempts furi- 
ously to seize and bite the other horses, or his attend- 
ants, and will level with the ground every thing before 
him, himself sweating and snorting and foaming amid 
the ruins." The eyes become glassy, fiery or red; loss 



EATTLESNAKE BITE. 95 

of vision ; tongue sometimes shoved out, and gnashing 
of the teeth ; the raging symptoms will increase, and 
the horse will beat himself to death, or he sometimes 
drops and dies. 

When a horse has been bitten by a mad dog, or other 
rabid animal, cut out as much of the wound as possible, 
and apply lunar caustic, or a few drops of muriatic acid, 
having previously washed the wound with warm vinegar, 
or a solution of the chloride of lime ; two tablespoons- 
ful of the chloride of lime, to half a pint of water ; 
wash the wound often with this solution. Sometimes 
the acid is put on tow, and bound to the wound. 

Another remedy for the bite of rabid animals, "is, 
spirits of hartshorn ; the wound should be bathed with 
it freely and repeatedly. 



RATTLESNAKE BITE. 

The spirits of hartshorn is a good remedy for the 
bite of the rattlesnake, and other poisonous reptiles ; 
the wound should be bathed with it constantly, as 
mentioned above for mad dog bite. It is now generally 
known, that spiritous liquors, when taken in large 
quantities, have cured rattlesnake bite ; large draughts, 
and repeated at short intervals, until a pint or quart, 
has been taken by men with complete success, and 
without producing intoxication. 

The Medical Journal says, the following is an infal- 
lible cure for rattlesnake bite : 



96 



Recipe No. 103. 

FOR RATTLESNAKE BITE. 

Iodide of potash, . . . four grains. 
Corrosive sublimate, . . two grains. 
Bromine, .... five drachms. 

Mix, and keep it in a stoppered vial well secured. 

Ten drops of this mixture, diluted with a tablespoon- 
ful or two of wine or brandy, constitute a dose for a 
man, which is to be repeated, if necessary, according to 
the exigencies of the case. If given to the horse, it 
will require at least eight times this quantity to make 
a dose. 



WARTS 



The best way to remove warts, is to cut them off with 
a sharp, red-hot iron. This, if properly done, will pre- 
vent the bleeding. 



DOCKING. 



Always select a joint near the desired length of the 
tail ; then turn the hair back, and tie it round with 
tape for an inch or two above this joint; and that 
which lies immediately upon the joint is cut off. If a 
knife is used for this operation, it should be sharp; 
and take care not to strike or bruise the tail, but lay 
the tail next the block, and, at one blow, drive the knife 
through a joint, if possible. Be prepared with an iron, 
moderately hot, to sear the end of the dock, and stop 



DOCKING. 97 

the bleeding. A hole of sufficient size should be made 
in the iron, so as not to burn the bone ; and take care 
not to hold it on too long, or burn too much. It would 
be much better to perform this operation when the colt 
is very young. 

If, in any case, the bleeding should be troublesome, 
tie a piece of tape tight round the tail, about two inches 
above the wound. Take a large bunch of tow, and dip 
it in the following styptic wash, and put it on the end 
of the tail, and over that put another pledget of tow 
dipped in tar. A piece of strong cotton cloth can now 
be laid over that, and fastened on in the most con- 
venient way, and should not be removed for eighteen 
or twenty-four hours : 

Recipe No. 104. 

STYPTIC WASH — STOPPING THE BLOOD. 

Alum, ..... one ounce. 
Nitrate of silver, . . . one drachm. 
Sulphate of zinc, . . . one drachm. 

Dissolve in a pint of water, and keep for use. 

I will here mention, that in bleeding a horse in the 
mouth, the blood is sometimes difficult to stop. When 
this is the ease, take a bunch of tow and wrap it round 
a piece of strong tape, and tie it securely over the orifice. 
It may be dipped in a solution of alum. 

In case of accident, when any of the veins or arteries 
are much ruptured, it may be necessary to tie them up. 
Sometimes burnt copperas or gunpowder is useful as a 
styptic. 



9 



98 horseman's companion. 



POUNDEE, 



This is a serious disorder, and one which has rendered 
useless more horses than any other disease. Numerous 
are the causes that produce it. Prominent among these 
are : Improper feeding, over-working, obstructed per- 
spiration — which is caused by sudden changes, and too 
often from cooling off suddenly when the animal has 
been over heated. The attack, which is of an inflam- 
matory character, seems to be made more directly upon 
the feet, which, if they have been previously weakened 
by improper shoeing, or other ill usage, are rendered 
more susceptible. This sudden attack is more than 
the vessels of the feet can bear, and the result is, they 
distend and fall into inflammation. 

The early symptoms of founder are too well known 
to be mistaken. The horse appears stiff and feeble in 
his forequarters ; and if he is forced to move forward, 
he will evince the greatest pain. He shifts his forelegs 
frequently, as if unable to bear his weight on either of 
them. He collects his body, as it were, into a heap. 
He brings the hind feet as far forward under him as he 
can, in order to remove the weight of the body from 
the forelegs and feet. He then moves his forefeet 
forward, and sets them to the ground with great pain. 
His foreparts are very hot, and the legs are often 
swollen and painful when pressed with the hand. As 
the disorder increases, the arteries at the pasterns will 
throb violently, and sometimes there will be swelling 
about the fetlocks and coronet ; and if one foot be 
lifted, it gives so much pain to the other, that the ani- 
mal is in danger of falling, and his whole appearance 



FOUNDER. 99 

shows plainly that he is laboring under a most painful 
inflammatory affection. As soon as the disease is dis- 
covered, a few quarts of blood may be taken from the 
plate vein, a little above the fetlock joint ; or it may be 
taken from the toe of each of the feet, by cutting 
through the sole close to the wall — (see cut (V), page 102) 
— the shoes having been already taken off, and the 
soles pared moderately thin. If the blood does not flow 
freely, put the foot in warm water, and the flow will be 
increased ; and, when enough has been taken, the ori- 
fice may be filled with tow, and the shoe tacked very 
lightly over it for a short time. Purgatives should not 
be given, unless there be evident costiveness, and then 
only in sufficient quantities to open the bowels gently, 
for which purpose Recipe No. 82 may be used. This 
having been attended to, give the following Recipe: 

Recipe No. 105. 

Digitalis, . . . one drachm and a half. 

Tartar emetic, . . one drachm and a half. 

Nitre, . . . two drachms. 

Sulphur, . . . one drachm. 

Mix, for one dose, and give twice a day while the 
inflammatory symptoms continue, and rub the legs well 
with wet salt, and then rub them dry, and clothe him 
comfortably. The animal should have mild diet and 
moderate exercise ; but do not force him or put him to 
work before he has recovered, for in so doing there is 
danger of the disorder returning with increased virulence. 
In cases of relapse, or founder of long standing, I make 
an opening in the soles, just inside the wall of the feet, 
and have known great quantities of yellow viscid matter 



100 horseman's companion. 

to be discharged, and relief would invariably follow. 
About the worse affected horse I ever saw, was relieved 
by this simple operation. He was a favorite of the 
owner, and had (a short time previous) temporarily 
recovered from an attack of founder, and was put to 
work too soon, and the disorder returned with fearful 
malignity. It required the assistance of several men 
to bear him up while I performed the operation, (with a 
small farrier's knife.) It seemed that the whole effects 
of the disease had settled in the lower extremities, and 
were now escaping through the outlet I had made in 
the feet. The discharge of this offensive, gluey matter 
continued for some time. It seemed to run from above 
the feet j and before it ceased, the horse began to stand 
erect and strong, and, in a short time, he thoroughly 
recovered. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FOOT. 

The wall, the sole, and the frog constitute the exter- 
nal parts of the foot ; these form a strong, elastic box, 
which is designed to sustain the greatest part of the 
weight of the body, and to protect the internal parts, 
which are as sensitive as those of the human being. 
The wall is that hard, insensible, outside portion which 
receives the nails of the shoe, and reaches from the hair 
to the ground. The wall at the toe of the forefoot is 
the thickest and strongest portion of the hoof, and less 
expansive than any other part, but it gets thinner to- 
ward the quarters and heels, the inner quarter being 
thinner than the outer. This is not the case with the 
hind feet, the wall or horn of which is thicker at the 



ORGANIZATION OP THE FOOT. 101 

heel than at the toe. This difference in the thickness 
of the wall is beautifully adapted to the weight which 
each part has to sustain. The bars or binders are con- 
tinuations of the wall, turned inward at the heels toward 
the center of the foot, where they meet, forming an 
acute angle ; and, acting by mutual resistance from 
within, oppose the contraction of the heel. 

The frog occupies the greater part of the space between 
the bars, and is united to them only at their upper edge, 
the sides being unattached, and forming a kind of chan- 
nel or space between them. It is of a spongy, yielding 
texture, and less compact than the bars or sole. The 
sole occupies the whole bottom surface of the foot within 
the wall, excepting the frog ; and in a well formed foot 
it is moderately concave. Too great a concavity indi- 
cates contraction. 

There are three bones within the foot — viz. : the 
coffin bone, the navicular or shuttle bone, and part of 
the coronet or small pastern bone. These three bones 
combine to form what is called the coffin joint. (See 
sectional view, page 102.) 

The smallest of these is the navicular bone, which is 
situated behind the coffin bone and under the small 
pastern or coronet bone. It is joined to those two 
bones by ligaments, and is so situated as to be con- 
tinually exposed to danger. 

The navicular joint is formed between the under sur- 
face of the navicular bone and the upper surface or 
tendon of the flexor muscle, which passes immediately 
under this bone, and onward where it connects with the 
coffin bone. It is a sort of false joint, and, from its 
peculiar position, is frequently the seat of severe lame- 
ness. (See 7i, page 102.) 



102 



HORSEMAN'S COMPANION. 




SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE LEG AND FOOT. 

a The shank bone. 

b The upper and larger pastern bone. 

c The sessamoid bone. 

d The lower or smaller pastern bone. 

e The navicular or shuttle bone. 

/ The coffin bone, or bone of the foot. 

g The suspensory ligament inserted into the sessamoid bone. 

h A continuation of the suspensory ligament inserted into the smaller pastern 

Hone? 
i The small inelastic ligament tying down the sessamoid bone to the larger 

pastern bone. 
Jc A long ligament reaching from the pastern bone to the knee. 
I The extensor tendon inserted into both the pasterns and the coffin bone. 
in The tendon of the perforating flexor inserted into the coffin bone, after having 

passed over the navicular bone. 
n The seat of the navicular joint lameness, 
o The inner or sensible frog. 
p The cleft of the horny frog. 

q A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the smaller pastern, 
r A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the coffin bone. 
s The sensible sole, between the coffin bone and the horny sole. 
t The horny sole. 
m The crust or wall of the foot. 

v The sensible lamina to which the crust is attached. 
iv The coronary ring of the crust. 

a; The covering of the coronary ligamfcnt from which the crust is secreted, 
s Place of bleeding at the toe. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE FOOT. 103 

The coffin bone is the proper bone of the foot. Its 
shape corresponds with the inside of the hoof, where it 
is situated. It is of a light, spongy texture, and filled 
with holes, through which the vessels of the foot pass, 
which are very numerous. Between the hoof and the 
coffin bone is a collection of secretory vessels, forming 
a juicy, elastic substance, that prevents concussion, as 
would necessarily happen at every step but for this 
provision of nature. But this substance, in like man- 
ner, pervades the concurrence of all other bones of the 
foot, only differing in quality. The holes about the 
body of the coffin bone convey the nutricious juices to 
the little leaves with which it is covered. Those near 
the under part go to the sole. Considering the manner 
in which this bone is inclosed within the hoof, and the 
important parts around and below it which are to be 
nourished with blood, this circulation, which is carried 
on through the very body of this bone, is one of the 
most beautiful provisions of nature that is to be found in 
any part of the frame. The vessels which are distri- 
buted through the internal part of the foot are the 
arteries, veins, nerves, and lymphatic vessels — the secret- 
ing and excreting vessels. Two branches of the nerve 
distribute themselves equally on both sides ; two branches 
of arteries descend into the foot at the coronet near the 
quarters, and supply the coffin bone with fine blood for 
its reproduction. The formation of new horn is derived 
from the blood, which is sent hither in good quantity, 
and particularly into the coffin bone. In this bone there 
is a cavity, or rather three hollows, communicating with 
each other, in which the horny matter is generated ; in 
other words, this is the proper reservoir for such particles 
of blood as are suited to the formation of hoof, as it may 



104 horseman's companion. 

be required and called for by the process of nature. If 
we closely observe the natural laws of the growth of the 
hoof, we will perceive that it grows from the top down- 
ward, and from within, outwardly, so that the internal 
part pushes forward the middle part, and takes its place 
—while the latter, in its turn, is converted into the dead, 
horny substance, which is naturally destroyed by time, 
wear, and tear. 




PREPARATION OP THE FOOT WITH A VIEW 
TO ITS PRESERVATION. 

As I have already said, the wall, the sole, and the frog 
form an elastic box, which may be expanded, contracted, 
or depressed ; either of which is attended with pain and 
more or less injury to the parts within. How impor- 
tant, then, it is to preserve these parts in their natural 
strength, and not to sacrifice any part of them by an 
injudicious use of the shoer's knife. There is more or 
less difference in the natural structure of the feet ; some 
are wider or rounder than others ; the walls of some feet 
are thicker and stronger than others ; while some have a 



PRESERVATION OF THE FOOT. 105 

tendency to low heels, and the soles are inclined to be- 
come flat; or in other words, some feet being of weaker 
construction will sooner give way to ill usage or an im- 
proper use of the knife. 

Although there is some difference in the structure 
of the feet, there are few, if any, but what may be kept 
in a healthful state by judicious management. 

A shoer should be acquainted with the internal organ- 
ization of the foot, the structure of the foot and leg (see 
cut — page 102), and if possible, the whole frame; for it 
sometimes happens that a faulty position of the foot 
upon the ground — as the horse standing too high or too 
low, crooked or straight, or the toes turning inward or 
outward — is attributed to the bad formation of the foot, 
when it properly belongs to the awry structure of some 
portion of the leg. 

Before he begins to shoe a horse, he should know 
whether the foot is free from defect; whether it is pro- 
portioned to the leg; whether the hoof be too large or 
too small, too wide or too narrow, too long or too short; 
the heels too high or too low ; whether the frog is in 
proportion to the other parts ; the soles strong or weak, 
and to notice their degree of concavity. 

With regard to the paring or preparation of the foot 
for the shoe, it would be impossible to lay down any 
rule applicable to all feet. The overgrown portion 
should be cut off, but the weak or deficient parts should 
not be touched with the knife. (I can not say that I 
have always been free from the errors I am now point- 
ing out ; but close study and long practical experience 
haVe proved to me, that the suggestions I am making, 
for your guidance, can not be successfully controverted). 
The operation of paring the foot is attended with 



106 horseman's companion. 

some labor, and it sometimes seems very difficult to keep 
the knife from the parts that are easy to cut, although 
they are the parts that generally need the least trim- 
ming. 

In shoeing a young horse the first time, if there be 
plenty of hoof, and there is no defect, the bottom sur- 
face of the wall should be pared level, to give the shoe 
a solid bearing; but the sole, the bars, or the frog 
should not be meddled with, except there be ragged 
portions, which should be removed. What is the main 
object in shoeing horses? Sainbel, who wrote near 
three-quarters of a century ago, very truly said: "It is 
to furnish an additional strength for the foot, to render 
it capable of resisting the hardest bodies to which it 
niay be exposed ) but if at the very time we make this 
addition, we destroy with the buttress those parts which 
nature has formed with the very same intent, we not 
only do not increase the resources of the foot, but we 
destroy that organ by predisposing it to a multitude of 
ailments." 

If the bars are overgrown, they may be pared level 
with the heels; but the sides should not be cut away, 
which is so often done " so as to show an apparent in- 
crease of width between the heels, which may, for a 
time, deceive the eye, but it is a mere illusion purchased 
at the expense of impaired power of resistance in the 
bars, and ultimate contraction of the feet. It is self- 
evident, that the opening out the heels, or cutting away 
the sides of the bars, must diminish their substance, 
and render them weaker, and consequently less able to 
resist contraction." 

The frog seldom requires the knife, and I fully con- 
cur with William Miles in saying, that " The layer of 



PRESERVATION OE THE FOOT. 107 

torn, that covers the frog, is thinner in substance and 
more delicate in texture, than that of any other part 
of the foot, and when once destroyed, is very imperfectly 
and sparingly reproduced. The first stroke of the knife 
removes this thin horny covering altogether, and lays 
bare an under surface totally unfitted, from its moist, 
soft texture, for exposure either to the hard ground or 
the action of the air; and in consequence of such un- 
natural exposure, it soon becomes dry and shrinks, then 
follow cracks, the edges of which turning outward form 
rags; these rags are removed by the smith at the next 
shoeing, whereby another such surface is exposed, and 
another foundation laid for other rags, and so on until 
at last the protruding, plump, elastic cushion interposed 
by nature between the navicular joint and the ground, 
and so essential to its preservation from injury, is con- 
verted by the mischievous interference of art, into the 
dry, shrunk, unyielding apology for a frog to be seen 
in the foot of almost every horse that has been regu- 
larly shod for a few years." Cutting the frog to the 
quick often causes the thrush, a very common disorder, 
but it would seldom appear if the frog was not too much 
pared. It would be best to cut nothing more away than 
the dead or ragged parts, which naturally detach them- 
selves by the laws of growth and reproduction. 

The sole should not be pared beyond-' the dead or 
proud parts ; for if it is too much cut away, it will be 
weakened and unable to maintain its natural concavity 
or distance from the ground; either the cavity may be 
increased, which indicates contraction, or the sole may 
descend (particularly if there be the least predisposition 
to flatness), and become convexed at the bottom, which 
is the worst possible form it could assume. In addition 



108 horseman's companion. 

to this, the inner part of the sole, divested of its outside 
covering and protection, will be exposed to the air and 
hard substances, and will consequently become dry, 
hard, and brittle, to the injury of the parts within. In 
making these suggestions, I have had in view, more par- 
ticularly, the preservation of feet that have not received 
any material injury, but they are also (with very few ex- 
ceptions) applicable to all feet. 

I do not wish to be understood as saying that the 
overgrowth should not be pared away. "Was it not for 
the habit of some people (who ought to know better) 
of carving the foot into shape at every shoeing, destroy- 
ing heels, sole, bars, and frog, which nature, if ever able, 
may require years to reproduce, I should not, perhaps, 
say so much against it. 

If the heel should grow too high and throw the knee 
too much forward, it should be pared down to its proper 
place; the toe also should be cut away, if it should grow 
too fast and throw too much strain on the pastern. 



DIRECTIONS FOR FITTING THE SHOES, ETC. 

The wall should not be so much pared, as to destroy 
the natural cavity of the foot. Where it receives the 
shoe, it should be pared perfectly level, inclining neither 
inward nor outward ; the shoe should likewise be level 
at the seat of bearing. The soles of most feet that 
have never been injured, have sufficient cavity (if the 
wall is not too much cut away) to leave enough space 
between the sole and the shoe ; but if the sole should 
be too flat from any cause, the inside of the shoe, and 



DIRECTIONS FOR FITTING THE SHOES, ETC. 109 

so much only as covers the sole, should be made con- 
cave, leaving the seat of bearing level. This level bear- 
ing all round, will enable the foot in its elastic-growing 
state, and the heels particularly, to act without restraint, 
and keep their natural distance from each other. 

The sole in its natural state, and enjoying all its 
strength, may, without risk, receive a slight share of the 
weight, particularly in that part which adjoins the wall; 
but its concave form proves, that it was the intention 
of nature to keep it a proper distance from the ground, 
in order to preserve it from too great a pressure, which 
would certainly prove hurtful to the fleshy part of the 
sole. 

When the foot has been too much weakened, and the 
sole descends, and becomes convexed, it is sometimes 
the case that there is not enough substance in the 
wall to furnish a sufficient seat of bearing for the shoe ; 
in this case the sole must of necessity bear a portion of 
the weight. This deplorable condition of the foot, is 
generally caused by an improper use of the knife, and 
is sooner brought about when there is a natural ten- 
dency to flatness ; what strength or substance it now 
possesses, should be preserved, and the growth of the 
parts should be encouraged, but it is seldom, if ever 
found, that any art or science can restore the sole to 
its proper place. The shoe should be wide and of suf- 
ficient thickness to keep its proper shape, and great 
care should be taken that it corresponds with the cir- 
cumference or outline of the foot, and sets well in, and 
firm upon the heels. This important principle is too 
often neglected, for the reason, that a great many people 
like to see the shoe set well off at the heels. Miles was 
right in saying, that "it imposes upon the understand- 



110 horseman's companion. 

ing by deceiving the eye, and is in the last degree 
hurtful to the horse's foot. When a shoe is thus set 
off at the heels, it imparts to the foot an appearance of 
greater width than it really possesses; but if the shoe 
happened to be made of glass, or some other transparent 
substance, the deception would be at once detected, for 
then the outer edge of the foot would be seen to rest on 
the inner edge only of the shoe, and the whole of the 
remaining width of web would be seen projecting beyond . 
the hoof, forming a convenient clip for another horse 
to tread, but utterly useless as affording support to any 
part of the foot itself. A common observer, on taking 
up a foot with a shoe so fitted, looks only to the space 
between the heels of the shoe, and if he find that to be 
considerable, he does not stop to inquire what quantity 
of the foot is exposed by the opening, but seeing what 
he calls 'a good open foot,' is satisfied, forgetting alto- & 
gether that his inspection never extended to the foot at 
all, but was confined exclusively to the shoe." 

In addition to this, we must know, that the shoe be- 
ing thus set off at the heels, which, not having sufficient 
bearing, they will in a short time push down between 
the shoe, and be confined as though they were in a 
vise; this must produce contraction, the very thing in- 
tended tu be remedied. 

When the frog appears too large, as it sometimes does 
in cases of flat feet, which have generally very low heels, 
it is better to supply this defect by a slight increase of 
thickness in the heels of the shoe, than to strip the frog 
of its horny covering. By this means the heels are 
raised to a level with the rest of the foot, and the weight 
is equally distributed to every point of the circumference 
of the foot. 



CONTRACTION. Ill 

There is a deep-rooted, but unnecessary prejudice 
against the application of a hot shoe to the foot ; some- 
times the over-growth becomes so hard that it is almost 
impossible to cut it, and it is then necessary to soften 
it with the hot shoe, but the burning should not be so 
much as to affect beyond the part that is to be cut 
away. The shoe being applied moderately hot, will also 
afford the advantage of detecting such projecting por- 
tions, as would cause an uneven bearing of the shoe. 



CONTRACTION. 



The causes have been noticed in the last few pages. 

The best remedy for contraction is to take the shoes 
off, and turn the animal out. If he can not be spared 
for this purpose, the most of feet can be opened by ju- 
dicious shoeing, but not by setting the shoe -well off at 
the heels," as is so often supposed, and as I have shown 
at pages 109, 110 ; for this purpose, (instead of paring 
the wall or seat of bearing perfectly level, as I have re- 
commended for feet that are free from defect,) I pare 
the sole moderately thin — the wall concave to the outer 
edge — particularly the heels; and instead of mailing the 
shoe level or concave, as described at page 10S, it should 
be reversed, so as to press the foot out as the horse bears 
his weight upon it. The shoe should not project be- 
yond the foot at any part, but should fit neatly for the 
purpose ; the nails as few as possible, and put in well 
toward the toe, so as to allow the heels to expand. 
When the heels open, the shoe should not be suffered 
to remain on and press altogether upon the sole, but 



112 horseman's companion. 

should be taken off and opened to suit the foot, and 
nailed on as at first, and repeated until the foot acquires 
its proper form, when this mode of shoeing should he 
discontinued. 

I am aware that some writers have no great opinion 
of this mode of shoeing ; but, if properly done, I believe 
it (from experience) to be the easiest and most effectual 
remedy we have, including the various screw or joint 
shoes, which may, for the time, force the heels open, 
but too suddenly for the benefit of the parts within, 
and, besides, they are more trouble. 



THRUSH 



This is a disorder of the frog, caused by contraction 
and by cutting away too much of the horny covering, 
and exposing the tender parts to hard substances, etc. 
Its early symptoms are a slight issue of offensive matter 
from the cleft, and if not checked in time, may cause 
considerable trouble. 

Recipe No. 106. 

SALVE. 

Calamine powder, . . .six drachms. 

Sulphate of copper, powd., . four drachms. 

Alum, powdered, . . . five drachms. 

Tar, ..... one pound. 

Lard, ..... half pound. 

Melt the tar and lard together, and when they begin 

to cool, add the other ingredients, and stir them well. 

Take a small pledget of tow and dip it in this mixture, 

and put in the cleft as neatly as possible, and then a 



CANKER, QUITTOR, GRAVEL. 113 

larger pledget should be put over this. In bad cases, 
I frequently put a bar over the shoe by making one or 
two nail holes at each end of the bar to correspond with 
the holes in the shoe, and let the nail-heads rest on the 
bar, (or the bar may be welded on,) this will keep the 
pledgets in, and protect the frog. 

The ragged portions should be cut off before the foot 
is dressed, and the foot should be kept from water. If 
proud flesh appear, apply a powder of burnt alum or 
blue vitriol, and if that is not strong enough to repress 
it, add a little corrosive sublimate, or touch it with the 
butyr of antimony. Sometimes a portion of the fun- 
gous growth can be removed with the knife. If the 
reader wants any further information with regard to 
healing, etc., let him turn back to pages 82 and 86. 



CANKER, QUITTOR, GRAVEL. 

There sometimes appears an ugly horny or fungous 
growth about the hoof, called canker. The enlargement 
should be cut away, and the remaining parts touched 
with a caustic, as the butyr of antimony. Should the 
canker be so situated as to leave an orifice or opening 
after it has been cut away, it may be dressed with a pled- 
get of tow and salve as described in the preceding- 
page. It will sometimes grow again, but the treatment 
should be repeated until it is destroyed. 

In ease of quittor or gravel, so much of the outside 
horn, around the edge of the sinus, must be cut away 
as to enable you to get at the inside, which may be 
washed with a weak solution of blue vitriol, in the pro- 
portion of one drachm to half a pint of water, and the 
10 



114 horseman's companion. 

orifice may be dressed with a pledget of tow and salve, 
(page 112,) referred to above. Put it in neatly so as 
to keep the dirt out, and the feet should be kept as 
much as possible out of the water. 



sand-crack:. 

This is a crack or split in the hoof, frequently of the 
inside quarter, but sometimes in front, and if not at- 
tended to in time, it may be very troublesome. Take a 
sharp hot iron, and burn to the quick, just above the 
crack, transversely ; if it is on the quarter, a strong clip 
should be made to the shoe, and fit neatly to the cracked 
quarter, so as to keep it firmly to its place. The dirt 
should be cleaned out, and the crack filled with tow and 
tar, or the salve at page 112, so as to keep the dirt out. 
I have cured sand-crack in this way when it was split 
up to the hair. \If the crack is in the front of the foot, 
good may be done by making a large clip on each side 
of the shoe, and one also at the toe, so as to keep the 
parts firmly together ; but if the crack is very bad, it 
may be better to put a band over the top or front of the 
hoof, which every shoer should be able to do. The two 
pieces that form the band should be very thin, except 
at the top or front, where they are connected with a 
screw, and not more than three-quarters or an inch 
wide ; and the lower ends may be fitted neatly under the 
shoe, and receive one of the quarter nails, which may 
be as strong as practicable for the purpose. I have 
found this better and less trouble than welding them on 
to the shoe. Clean out between the cracks, and fill 
them up as directed above. 



METHOD OF TAMING WILD HORSES. 



The art of horse taming was successfully practiced in 
England and Ireland half a century or more ago, by 
the Jumper, and by Sullivan, better known as the 
Whisperer ; but, it seems, that their secrets were not 
known after their death. Some years after this, in 1814, 
Mr. Willis J. Powell discovered some valuable principles 
with regard to the taming and management of wild 
horses, which were published with some additional and 
useful instructions. 

It seems that Powell's system was not much noticed 
until within the last few years, when we find it prac- 
ticed with some additions, and recommended by the 
most expert horsemen of the present day. 

About ten years ago, Mr. Gffutt, of Kentucky, made 
some valuable discoveries on the management of wild 
horses, but I am not aware that he ever (intentionally) 
made them public. 

Within the last few years several books (from differ- 
ent authors) have made their appearance on the secret 
or modern art of taming wild or vicious horses. These 
works are all about the same thing ; although each of 
the different authors claim the paternity of the art. 

I never saw one of these books until about two years 
ago, when I purchased one from an agent — of the 
original (as I supposed) of the modern authors — with 
the right to do with it as I pleased ; but 1 have never 
used it up to the present time. I have seen several 
since, and they all contain the very same principle with 
regard to subduing vicious animals — that I had prac- 
ticed many years before — in the operation of shoeing. 
But I never published them, or carried the principle so 
far as others have in training horses, etc. These prin- 
ciples are undoubtedly good ; and if I knew who first 
found them out in this country, I would give him the 
proper credit. 

(115) 



116 



POWELL'S SYSTEM OP APPROACHING THE 
COLT. 

He says — " A horse is gentled by my secret in from 
two to sixteen hours. The time I have most commonly 
employed has been from two to six." And goes on to 
say — " Cause your horse to be put into a small yard, 
stable, or room. If in a stable or room, it ought to be 
a large one, in order to give him more exercise with the 
halter before you lead him out. If the horse belongs 
to that class which appear only to fear man, you must 
introduce yourself gently into the stable, room, or yard, 
where the horse is. He will naturally run from you, 
and frequently turn his head from you; but you must 
walk about extremely slow and softly, so that he can 
see you ; and whenever he turns his head toward you, 
which he never fails to do in a short time — say in a 
quarter of an hour, or half an hour ; I never knew one 
to be much longer without turning toward me — at the 
very moment he turns his head, hold out your left 
hand toward him, and stand perfectly still, keeping 
your eyes upon the horse, and watching his motions, if 
he makes any. If the horse does not stir for ten or 
fifteen minutes, advance as slowly as possible, and, 
without making the least noise — always holding out 
your left hand, without any other ingredient in it than 
what Nature put in it. If the horse makes the least 
motion when you advance toward him, stop, and stand 
perfectly still till he is quiet. Remain a few minutes 
in this position, and then advance again in the same 
slow, almost imperceptible manner. Take notice, if the 
horse stirs, stop without changing your position. It is 
very uncommon for a horse to stir more than once, after 
you begin to advance, yet there are exceptions. He 
generally keeps his eye steadfast on you till you get 
nigh enough to touch him upon the forehead. When 
you are thus near to him, raise slowly, and, by degrees, 
your hand, and let it come in contact with that part 
just above the nostrils, as lightly as possible. If the 
horse flinches, (as many will,) repeat, with great rapidity, 



Powell's system of approaching the colt. 117 

those light taps or strokes upon the forehead, going a 
little further up toward his ears by degrees, and descend- 
ing with the same rapidity, till he will let you handle 
his forehead all over. Now, let the strokes be repeated, 
with more force, over all his forehead, descending, by 
lighter touches, to each side of his head, till you can 
handle that part with equal facility. Then touch, in 
the same light manner, making your hands and fingers 
play around the bottom or lower part of the horse's 
ears, coming down now and then to the forehead, which 
may be looked upon as the helm that governs all the 
rest. Having succeeded in handling his ears, advance 
toward the neck with the same precaution, and in the 
same manner — observing always to augment the force 
of the strokes whenever the horse will permit it. Per- 
form the same on both sides of the neck, till he lets 
you take it in your arms without flinching. 

" Proceed, in the same progressive manner, to the sides, 
and then to the back of the horse. Every time the 
horse shows any uneasiness, return immediately to 
the forehead, as the true standard, patting him with 
your hands, and from thence rapidly to where you had 
already arrived — always gaining ground a considerable 
distance further on every time this happens. The head, 
ears, neck, and body being thus gentled, proceed, from 
the back, to the root of the tail. 

" This must be managed with dexterity, as a horse is 
never to be depended upon tnat is skittish about the tail. 
Le't yonr hand fall lightly and rapidly on that part next 
to the body, a minute or two, and then you will begin 
to give it a slight pull upward every quarter of a minute. 
" At the same time you continue this handling of him, 
augmenting the force of the strokes, as well as the rais- 
ing of the tail, till you can raise it and handle it with 
the greatest ease, which commonly happens in a quarter 
of an hour in most horses ; in others, almost immediately ; 
and in some much longer. 

" Begin, by degrees, to descend to the legs, always as- 
cending and descending, gaining ground every time you 
descend, till you get to his feet. Let him hear the sound 



118 houseman's companion. 

of your voice, { hold up your foot,' etc., at the same time 
lift his foot with your hand. He soon becomes familiar 
with the sounds, and will hold up his foot at command. 
Then proceed to the hind feet, and go on in the same 
manner ; and, in a short time, the horse will let you lift 
them, and even take them up in your arms. All this 
operation is no magnetism, no galvanism ; it is merely 
taking away the fear a horse generally has of a man, and 
familiarizing the animal with his master. As the horse, 
doubtless, experiences a certain pleasure from this hand- 
ling, he will soon become gentle under it, and show a 
very marked attachment to his keeper." 



TO PREVENT A HORSE PROM FRIGHTENING. 

Every one that has paid attention to horses, has 
noticed his inclination to smell of every thing which, to 
him, looks new and frightful. This is their peculiar 
mode of examining every thing ; and when they are 
frightened at any thing, though they look at it sharply, 
they seem to have little confidence in the examination ; 
and are not fully satisfied until they touch it with the 
nose. When this is done, their fear of the frightful 
object is gone, and they are perfectly satisfied. 

If you want to satisfy yourself of this fact, turn your 
horse into a large stable or barn-yard, and then gather 
up something that you know will frighten him, a buf- 
falo robe, red blanket, umbrella, or something of that 
kind ; hold it up so that he will see it. He will stick 
up his head and snort. Then throw it down in the 
inclosure, and walk off to one side. Watch his motions, 
and if he is frightened at the object, he will not rest 
until he has touched it with his nose. You will see 
him walk around the frightful object and snort, but 
getting a little closer, as if drawn by some magic spell, 
until he finally gets within reach of it. He will then 
cautiously stretch out his neck, merely touching it with 
his nose, as though he thought it might fly at him ; but 
after he has touched it a few times, he will find out, 



HOW TO SUBDUE OR DRIVE VICIOUS HORSES. 119 

by the sense of feeling, that it is nothing that will do 
him any harm, and he is ready to play with it, and if 
you watch him closely, you will see him take hold of it 
with his teeth, and raise it up and pull at it. This 
should be repeated with horses that are subject to being 
frightened, until they perfectly familiarize themselves 
with the object that frightens them. 



TO SUBDUE OR DRIVE VICIOUS HORSES. 

This requires kindness, patience, and perseverance ; 
always bear these three things in mind. To subdue a 
vicious horse, take up the left foreleg, and bend it 
until the foot is bottom upward ; slip a loop over the 
knee, well up, and tie a second strap in the middle of 
it, so that he can not get the foot down ; this will leave 
him standing on three legs. Sometimes the horse 
strikes out desperately with his right foreleg, but you 
can keep out of his reach, he can not kick or do mis- 
chief, and when he finds that he can not get his leg 
down, he will quiet down and become perfectly gentle. 
There is something about this that conquers a horse 
quicker and better than any thing known. I have shod 
the worst kind of mule this way, long before I ever 
heard of the new secret, or seen one of the books. If 
you want to carry this process further, and make him 
more gentle, so that you can handle him as you please, 
lead him about on three legs, (with the left fore foot 
tied up as I have just described,) until he is tired; (it 
will not be long,) then take another long strap, and 
fasten it around the right foreleg just above the foot; 
bring this strap over his shoulder from the off side, or 
under the surcingle. You must stand on the left side, 
'with this long strap drawn tight in your right hand, 
and your left hand hold of the bridle or halter close to 
the mouth, bear against his shoulder till you cause him 
to move. As soon as he moves or lifts his weight, pull 
the long strap, which will bring him on his knees. 
Keep the strap tight in your hand, so that he can not 



120 

straighten his leg; hold him in this position and bear 
against his side with your shoulder, lightly, and in a 
short time he will show a willingness to lie down. 
When he is down on his side, if he should attempt to 
rise, you must prevent it by keeping his head down, 
and bearing it toward his shoulder. In most cases, as 
soon as a horse lies down in this way, he will be com- 
pletely conquered, and you can take the straps off, and 
handle him as you please. As soon as he is done 
Struggling, caress his face and neck, handle every part 
of his body and legs, and make yourself as familiar as 
possible. If you do not think he is thoroughly sub- 
dued, after he has been quiet for about twenty minutes, 
let him rise, and repeat the operation immediately, 
taking off all the straps as soon as he is down, and if 
his head is kept down or pulled toward his shoulder, 
it is impossible for him to rise. After throwing him in 
this way a few times, he will become perfectly submis- 
sive, and you can handle him as you please. When you 
take off the straps, straighten out his legs and caress 
him. It takes longer to subdue an old horse than a 
young one, as his habits are more confirmed. A very 
wicked horse should have at least two lessons a day, and 
about the fourth or fifth lesson he will be completely 
conquered and made to lie down, by lifting up the foot, 
and telling him to "lie down," having previously made 
him familiar with those words. Bear in mind that the 
horse should not be forced down by violence, but he 
must be tired out till he has an inclination to lie down. 
Take care not to throw the horse upon his neck. A soft 
place with plenty of room, is best to perform this opera- 
tion, which is called "taking him down." 

If it is a horse that has been dangerous to drive, you 
may tie up one foot, and walk him about until he is 
tired, (as described in the first part of this article,) and 
hitch him to a sulky, and drive him on three legs until 
he becomes submissive, when his leg may be let down; 
but if he should be an old horse, whose wicked habits 
are more confirmed, it may be necessary to "take Mm 
down" a few times. 



